Mumbai: India's stocks advanced, with the benchmark index extending its biggest weekly rally since December, after Credit Suisse Group AG upgraded Wipro Ltd and higher oil prices boosted producers.
Wipro, the nation's third-biggest software services provider, surged the most since November 22 after Credit Suisse raised the stock to "outperform" from "neutral." Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) climbed the most in three weeks as concerns of supply disruptions in the Middle East drove oil prices higher. Stocks rose as President Pratibha Devisingh Patil said before a budget announcement next week that India's priority is to slow inflation and sustain growth.
"It's some sort of a pre-budget rally," said Kaushik Dani, a Mumbai-based fund manager with Peerless Mutual Fund, which manages about $598 million in assets. "The budget is likely to give a clear picture on the government's reform agenda. Recent declines have made software stocks attractive. They are catching up today."
Worst run
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, advanced 226.79, or 1.3 per cent, to 18,438.31 at the 3:30pm, local time, close in Mumbai. The gauge climbed 2.7 per cent last week, the most since the five days ended December 3. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange rose 1.1 per cent to 5,518.60. The BSE 200 Index added 1 per cent to 2,263.93.
The Sensex has lost 10 per cent this year, the worst after Egypt and Tunisia in local currency terms.
