By Sethuraman N R

BENGALURU, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Indian shares rose on Thursday, boosted by gains in metals, technology and auto stocks on the back of strong quarterly updates from companies ahead of the corporate earnings season, and positive global cues.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.7% to 17,402.40 as of 0514 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.7% at 58,480.04.

The dollar index was hovering near 111, while the benchmark U.S.

Treasury yields eased to 3.7430%.

“Decline in the dollar index and easing U.S. 10-year bond yields is a positive sentiment for emerging markets. This is also a good sign for foreign investors to come back, with India remaining a preferred bet,” said Prashanth Tapse – research analyst, Mehta Equities.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought net 13.45 billion Indian rupees ($164.8 million) worth of equities on Tuesday, as per provisional data available with the National Stock Exchange.

FIIs sold $1.99 billion of shares last week, as per Refinitiv Eikon data.

September saw net FII equity outflows of $903.08 million, compared with $6.44 billion of inflows in August, betturkey mobil according to Refinitiv.

“The way business updates have been coming from banks and non-banking financial companies is showing good credit as well as margin growth. This is also boosting market sentiments,” Tapse said.

IDFC First Bank, AU Small Finance Bank reported strong quarterly numbers this week.

The Nifty bank index rose 0.9%.

The Nifty metals index rose 2.6%, while the IT and betturkey mobil auto indexes gained 1.5% and betturkey mobil 1.3%, respectively. JSW Steel rose 3.6% and was the top gainer in Nifty 50 index.

Shares of SpiceJet Ltd surged about 9% on Thursday after a report said that the budget airline is expected to receive an additional 10 billion Indian rupees ($122.7 million) loan under the government’s modified Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises rose 5% after India’s competition regulator on Tuesday approved a merger between the company and Indian unit of Japan’s Sony .

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)