India stocks rise for second week

Mumbai: India's stocks rose, with the benchmark index advancing for a second straight week, led by software exporters after Tata Consultancy Services quarterly net income beat estimates.

Tata Consultancy, the nation's biggest software-services provider, gained the most in a year. Its first-quarter profit rose 20 per cent to Rs18.4 billion (Dh1.4 billion), exceeding the Rs17.6 billion average of 25 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Grasim Industries, a cement maker owned by the Aditya Birla Group, climbed for the first time in four days after it was upgraded by Morgan Stanley.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, added 46.36, or 0.3 per cent, to 17,955.82 after swinging between gains and losses at least 12 times.

The gauge climbed 0.7 per cent for the week, its second week of gains.

The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange increased 0.3 per cent to 5,393.90. The BSE 200 Index rose 0.4 per cent to 2,287.54.

"The positive numbers from Tata Consultancy gave some confidence to the markets," said Mumbai-based Sadanand Shetty, a fund manager at Taurus Asset Management, which manages $640 million (Dh2.3 billion) in assets. "Overall, though, it seems earnings upgrades are not happening for Sensex companies."

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Tata Consultancy surged 6.6 per cent to Rs833.65, its biggest climb since July 30. Profit rose for a fifth consecutive quarter as overseas companies outsourced more business to India's largest software-services provider.