Indian stocks rose 3.06 percent on Friday, as Wall Street gained on news of an economic stimulus package to be introduced in Congress and another handout for Bank of America, dealers said. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index rose 276.85 points to 9,323.59. "The markets saw a sharp relief rally with a focus on index heavyweights," said a dealer with equity research firm Sharekhan.
Shares of fraud-hit Satyam rose 20.44 percent or 4.15 rupees to 24.45 Friday, a day after India's Corporate Affairs Minister P.C. Gupta said Satyam's operations were "sound" and that "by and large, major customers are willing to remain with the company". The stock has fallen over 85 percent after Satyam's founder and chairman B. Ramalinga Raju admitted the Hyderabad-based software services firm had falsified accounts by over a billion dollars.
Satyam is being run by a new government-installed board. In Thursday's trade, gainers led losers 1,241 to 1,162 on turnover of 29.03 billion rupees (596 million dollars). Last year, overseas funds were net sellers of Indian stocks, having sold 13.13 billion dollars in 2008. Reliance Industries rose 75.05 rupees or 6.56 percent to 1,218.4 rupees while Tata Steel rose 6.21 rupees or 3.21 percent to 204.15 as global metal prices improved.