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BENGALURU- Indian shares rose on Thursday for a third straight session, joining a global rally driven by continued dovish signals from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, with financials and IT stocks accounting for most of the gains.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.99% at 15,128.95 by 0458 GMT and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.86% to 51,217.31, ahead of December-quarter gross domestic product data due on Friday.

Global investor sentiment was boosted by Powell's reiteration that the Fed wouldn't adjust policy until the economy is clearly improving. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 1.7%.

"There is a resurgence in risk appetite globally and things are looking up on hopes of cheap money," said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services in Kochi.

In Mumbai, HDFC Bank and IT services provider Infosys were among the top boosts to the Nifty, rising 1.9% and 2%, respectively. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries climbed nearly 2%.

Financial stocks extended gains, a day after the government allowed private-sector lenders to carry out government transactions. The Nifty private bank index rose 2.34%, adding to its near 18% gain so far in February.

The Nifty IT index, which had eked out small gains in most sessions of the week, jumped 1.7%. Shares of Infosys are up 1% this week after shedding 1.4% last week.

The Nifty metal index advanced 2.5%, making it the top sectoral boost, and was on track to post a fourth straight session of gains.

The index has added more than 9% this week, helped by a rise in copper prices on hopes of improving demand.

Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange said it was awaiting "detailed root cause analysis" from telecom service providers and was in touch with the market regulator about Wednesday's outage which saw a trading halt for nearly four hours.