Lenders, telecom firms lead gainers in India

Mumbai: India's stocks rose. Bank of Baroda and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. advanced after reporting quarterly earnings.

State-owned Bank of Baroda gained after its first-quarter net income climbed 25 per cent. Tata Teleservices, a mobile phone operator, surged the most in six weeks after reporting its first quarterly profit on record. DLF Ltd. declined after its earnings fell short of analysts' estimates.

"Companies reporting good numbers are being rewarded," said Kaushik Dani, a Mumbai-based fund manager with Peerless Mutual Fund, which manages $322 million (Dh1.1 billion) in assets. "Those missing estimates or giving poor guidance were not preferred by investors."

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, gained 34.63, or 0.2 per cent, to 17,992.00, after swinging between gains and losses at least 16 times. The gauge has climbed 12 per cent from this year's most recent low on May 25.

The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange rose 0.2 per cent to 5,408.90. The BSE 200 Index increased 0.2 per cent to 2,292.61. The gauges may have been more volatile yesterday as futures contracts rolled over from July to August.

Bank of Baroda rose 2.5 per cent to Rs734.2, its biggest gain in a month. The lender reported a 25 per cent increase in quarterly profit to Rs8.59 billion (Dh687.2 million, $184 million). Separately, the company said it plans to raise Rs20 billion selling debt and shares.

Tata Teleservices soared 6.8 per cent to Rs22.8, its steepest climb since June 16, after posting first-quarter net income of Rs5.58 billion. The stock dropped 36 per cent in the past year.

DLF lost 0.9 per cent to Rs309.1. DLF reported first- quarter profit of Rs4.11 billion, below the Rs4.55 billion average estimate of 19 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Shares of DLF have declined 14 per cent this year.

Reliance Industries Ltd., India's most valuable company, lost 1.1 per cent to Rs1,010.15 after being cut to "equal-weight" from "overweight" by Vinay Jaising and Rakesh Sethia, analysts at Morgan Stanley, who cited a slowdown in the ramp up of gas production.