Sensex has longest series of gains in nine months

Mumbai: Indian stocks rose yesterday after Standard & Poor's raised the nation's outlook, driving the benchmark index to its longest stretch of gains in nine months.

Bharti Airtel, the country's biggest wireless operator, surged the most in almost four months. Hero Honda Motors, the largest motorcycle maker, climbed to its highest in at least 19 years. S&P on Thursday raised the country's outlook to stable from negative and Moody's said India's savings rate will help drive the economy.

"The S&P upgrade is positive news for the markets," said Kishor Ostwal, managing director of CNI Research, a publicly traded equities research provider in Mumbai. "But with the prospect of a rate hike by the central bank, investors would tend to be cautious." The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, gained 58.97, or 0.3 per cent, to 17,578.23. The measure advanced 2.4 per cent last week. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 0.3 per cent to 5,262.80. The BSE 200 Index advanced 0.3 to 2,198.96.

Bharti increased 3.9 per cent to Rs311.9 (Dh25.18), the biggest advance since November 30. Reliance Communications, the second-largest mobile-phone operator, gained 2.1 per cent to Rs167.95, its steepest climb since February 8. Both companies have submitted bids for licences for faster mobile services, commonly known as 3G. The applications for the permits closed Thursday. "Companies bagging the 3G licences are likely to benefit," said G.V. Giri, an analyst with IIFL Capital in Mumbai.