Corrected - Nifty ends near 1-1/2-month high

MUMBAI (Reuters) - (Corrects closing levels for Nifty and BSE Sensex in paragraphs 4 and 5)

The Nifty rose for a third consecutive session on Monday to mark its highest level in nearly 1-1/2 months as Wipro surged on strong earnings while lenders gained on continued optimism the Reserve Bank of India's surprise rate cut last week would revive credit growth.

The NSE bank index rose as much as 1.1 percent to a record high of 19,434.20 after the Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday.

Earnings by blue-chips such as ITC on Wednesday and ECB's decision on its widely-expected quantitative easing program on Thursday are seen as the next key triggers.

 

The broader Nifty closed 0.4 percent higher, after earlier touching its highest intraday level since Dec. 5.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended up 0.5 percent, after rising to its highest since Dec. 8.

Wipro rose 5.3 percent after the country's third-largest IT services exporter on Friday reported better-than-expected growth in December-quarter net profit.

However, Hindustan Unilever fell 5.2 percent, its biggest daily fall since July 2011, after analysts said its December-quarter net profit of 12.5 bln rupees included an exceptional profit of 4 billion rupees.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)