Indian shares edged higher on Thursday as Mahindra & Mahindra advanced after its quarterly earnings beat analyst estimates, while ICICI Bank rose ahead of it results on Friday. Indian shares were also helped as global shares recovered from a recent slide on encouraging data from Britain and China, as well as the US Federal Reserve's latest commitment to support growth.
The expiry of October derivatives contracts at the end of the session proved less volatility that usual, as investors focused on earnings and on hopes for a surprise cut in interest rates at the Reserve Bank of India's policy review on Tuesday, according to traders. "Earnings so far have been on the positive side and will remain important," said Dipen Shah, head of Private Client Group Research at Kotak Securities. "But RBI's policy review now becomes the key to determine the trend of the market from here onwards." India's BSE index rose 0.26 percent, or 48.61 points, to 18,758.63 points. The 50-share NSE index rose 0.24 percent, or 13.90 points, to 5,705.30 points.
Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd rose 3.5 percent after India's biggest SUV manufacturer beat analysts' estimates with a 22 percent rise in July-September net profit as its car sales outperformed the market. Banking stocks were well bid on the back of solid earnings and improvements in the shedding of bad loans. Yes Bank rose 4.2 percent, touching at one point an all-time high 418.25 rupees, after the private lender reported a decrease in non-performing assets, while Oriental Bank of Commerce rose 6.9 percent after posting a surge in profit.
ICICI Bank gained 0.7 percent ahead of its quarterly earnings results on Friday. Kingfisher Airlines rose 4.8 percent after its employees agreed to return to work, recovering after slumping 17.5 percent over the previous four sessions. Lupin gained 1.8 percent after HSBC upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'neutral', saying the drug maker's July-September earnings were higher than expected, while shares had under-performed peers over the past three months.
Hero MotoCorp shares gained 2 percent on hopes for a spike in sales ahead of the festival season in India, after disappointment over July-September earnings had sent the stock down as much as 2.5 percent earlier in the day. However, among the stocks that fell, Sun TV Network lost 3.7 percent after winning the Hyderabad franchise of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament for an annual fee of $15.81 million, as investors worried about the premium paid. Adani Enterprises fell 0.9 percent after reporting a 42.1 percent drop in July-September quarter profit from a year ago.