Indian Stocks Post Fourth Weekly Gain; Banks, Tata Steel Advance

India's Sensitive Index rose, posting its fourth weekly advance. Tata Steel Ltd. and State Bank of India gained on expectations corporate earnings are weathering slowing economic growth.

Tata Steel Ltd., the country's largest maker of the alloy, rose to its highest in almost three weeks. State Bank of India, the nation's largest lender, gained the most in a week.

``Earnings for the quarter ended June were decent,'' said Mahesh Patil, who helps manage $9.6 billion in assets at Birla Sunlife Asset Management in Mumbai. ``Investors were expecting earnings to be much worse than what companies reported.''

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 300.94, or 2.1 percent, to 14,656.69. The gauge climbed 2.7 percent this week. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange gained 80.60, or 1.9 percent, to 4,413.55.

Tata Steel rose 3.8 percent to 679.85 rupees, its highest since July 14. State Bank rose 6.2 percent to 1,504.55 rupees, the most since July 23.

Tata Steel, India's largest producer of the metal, posted a 22 percent gain in first-quarter profit, excluding contributions from unit Corus Group Plc, after the company increased prices on higher demand. Net income rose to 14.9 billion rupees in the three months ended June 30, beating the 13.1 billion rupee median profit estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

State Bank, the nation's biggest, reported profit that beat analysts' estimates on July 26 as fees from selling mutual funds and insurance almost tripled.

Overseas investors bought a net 5.97 billion rupees ($148 million) of Indian equities on July 31, reducing their net outflow this year from stocks to $6.62 billion, according to the nation's stock market regulator.

The following were among the most active stocks traded on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names:
Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd. (BJH IN) added 11.75 rupees, or 7.6 percent, to 165.65, the most since July 2. India's biggest sugar producer said its third-quarter loss narrowed 41 percent after prices of the sweetener increased. The net loss in the quarter ended June 30 was 354.1 million rupees compared with 604.7 million rupees a year earlier. Sales fell 4 percent to 4.59 billion rupees.

Essar Oil Ltd. (ESOIL IN) rose 10.05 rupees, or 5.3 percent, to 198.70, the highest since June 27. The company, which owns India's newest refinery, swung to a profit in the first quarter. Net income was 299.3 million rupees in the three months ended June 30. It had reported a loss of 56.7 million rupees a year earlier.

HEG Ltd. (HEG IN) dropped 28 rupees, or 10 percent, to 240.80. India's biggest graphite electrodes maker by market value fell the most in a month after deferring a stock buyback plan.

Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC IN) rose 124.4 rupees, or 5.5 percent, to 2,401.75, the highest since June 4. India's largest mortgage company raised its benchmark lending rate by 75 basis points. The company raised the lending rate for its best customers to 15 percent from the 14.25 percent set on June 30, making it the second increase in a month. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL IN) fell 13.5 rupees, or 2.4 percent, to 562.15. The maker of half the cars in the country posted its slowest sales growth in four months in July as rising interest rates and accelerating inflation damped demand. Sales climbed 1.1 percent last month to 58,543 cars, vans and sport- utility vehicles.
Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM IN) dropped 64.65 rupees, or 13 percent, to 436, the most since June 8, 2006. India's second-largest mobile-phone operator reported first-quarter net income growth slowed. Profit rose 24 percent to 15.1 billion rupees for the three months ended June 30, missing the 15.5 billion rupee median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.