BENGALURU, April 21 Reuters Indian shares marked their best session since April 4 on Thursday, buoyed by sharp gains in conglomerate Reliance Industries and beatendown information technology stocks, while automakers climbed to twomonth highs.

The NSE Nifty 50 index jumped 1.49 to 17,392.6, while the SP BSE Sensex rose 1.53 to 57,911.68.

The indexes are still down marginally for the month on worries around the Ukraine crisis, surging inflation and a rout in technology stocks following weak earnings from Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys.

The Nifty Auto index was the best performing subindex, climbing 2.2. Top carmaker Maruti Suzuki advanced 2.8, while truckmaker Eicher Motors surged 4.5.

Heavyweight Reliance rose for a third session and settled at a record high. Morgan Stanley raised its target price on the conglomerate39;s stock earlier this week and said it expects up to a 10 boost to the company39;s net asset value in anticipation of quicker hydrogen monetization.

Threewheeler maker Atul Auto surged 11.7 after saying its unit will partner with Valeo and Honda Power Pack Energy India for electric vehicles with battery swapping solution.

IT services provider HCL Technologies was up 0.9 ahead of its quarterly results.

The Nifty IT index, which plunged to eightmonth lows earlier this week, closed 1.4 higher.

Steelmaker Jindal Steel and Power slid 2.9 after reports that India39;s federal financial crime fighting agency had raided its offices over suspected…