Indian shares rise 2.42% on robust telecom earnings

Mumbai: Indian shares rose 2.42 per cent on Friday, led by telecoms and financials after Bharti Airtel's quarterly earnings topped forecasts and traders expected ICICI Bank to follow suit.

Shares in top mobile operator Bharti Airtel rose 9.6 per cent to Rs925.30, their highest close since February 5, after a 37 per cent rise in March quarter net profit.

No 2 mobile firm Reliance Communications, which said on Thursday it had bought a UK-based 4G services operator, closed 8.3 per cent higher at Rs577.05, its highest close since February 28. It is due to report results on April 30.

Government data also showed that mobile operators signed 10.2 million users in March, seeing India overtake the US as the world's second-largest market.

"So far results have been healthy and sentiments are better. The market is poised and ICICI results will matter. I believe they will handsomely beat expectations," R. Parthasarathy, head of institutional sales at Antique Stock Broking said.

ICICI Bank results

No. 2 lender ICICI Bank rose 4.5 per cent to Rs916.15 on expectation of strong quarterly earnings.

The bank is due to report earnings today and analysts polled by Reuters expect a 10 per cent rise in net profit.

Smaller banks Axis Bank and HDFC Bank have already posted strong quarterly profit growth, and the expectation ICICI would follow suit lifted the sector index rose 3.3 per cent.

The benchmark BSE 30-share index closed up 404.90 points at 17,125.98, its highest close since February 29, with 22 components gaining.

It gained 3.9 per cent over the week, a third successive weekly rise, but is still down 15.6 per cent in 2008.

In the broader market 1,246 gainers trailed 1,459 losers on volume of more than 355 million shares.

"Inflation numbers were also below expectation and helped the markets on the way up," Parthasarathy said.

Data showed annual inflation was 7.33 per cent on April 12, just below market expectations of 7.38 per cent but holding near three-year highs just ahead of the central bank's policy review next Tuesday.

The 50-share NSE index was up 2.24 per cent at 5,111.70.