Indian Stocks Rise, Set for Sixth Weekly Advance; ICICI Gains

April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks rose, with the benchmark index set for its sixth weekly gain, after U.S. company earnings beat estimates and better data from the world's biggest economy lifted confidence the global recession is easing.

ICICI Bank Ltd. led gains among lenders. Overseas investors were net buyers of local equities every day this month, acquiring about $621 million worth of stocks, data through April 15 on the regulator's Web site shows.

"The rally looks like it will sustain for some time," said Mahesh Patil, who helps manage $8.8 billion at Birla Sunlife Asset Management in Mumbai. "News flows from the U.S. have improved and that's driving the rally globally."

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index rose 3 percent to 11,274.64 as of 11:37 a.m. local time. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 3.1 percent to 3,474.85. The BSE 200 Index climbed 3.3 percent to 1,333.88. Nifty futures for April delivery rose 3 percent to 3,476.

The U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.6 percent yesterday as JPMorgan Chase & Co., the country's second-largest bank by assets, reported a 10 percent decline in first-quarter earnings to $2.14 billion, or 40 cents a share. That beat the estimate of 32 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Google Inc., the world's most popular search engine, said first- quarter profit rose 8.9 percent, exceeding analysts' estimates.

The U.S. Labor Department reported yesterday new jobless claims in the week ended April 11 fell by the fewest since January.

ICICI, the nation's second-largest lender, gained 4.7 percent to 447.60 rupees. State Bank of India, the biggest lender, added 6.7 percent to 1,345.35 rupees. HDFC Bank Ltd., the No. 3, climbed 2.4 percent to 1,092 rupees.

The following shares were among the most active on the exchange:

Hero Honda Motors Ltd. (HH IN) added 2.4 percent to 1,103.90 rupees. India's largest motorcycle maker expects two- wheeler sales to climb 7.5 percent this fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.

SpiceJet Ltd. (SJET IN) gained 14 percent to 18.51 rupees. The low-cost carrier is still in talks with rival budget carriers GoAir and IndiGo for an alliance, the Business Standard newspaper reported, citing a SpiceJet official it didn't name.

Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL IN) gained 7.2 percent to 60 rupees. India's biggest maker of wind-turbine generators is seeking to reschedule payments to Portugal's Martifer SGPS SA for buying a 22.4 percent stake in unit REpower Systems AG.

Suzlon yesterday dropped 19 percent after a Wall Street Journal report said that REpower Systems AG rejected Suzlon's blades for a project in China.

"Checks with REpower indicate there is nothing unusual with a new supplier's initial prototypes not matching REpower's exacting standards," Lakshminarayana Ganti, a Mumbai-based analyst with BNP Paribas said in a report yesterday. The bank left unchanged Suzlon's target price of 84 rupees a share.

Unitech Ltd. (UT IN): The second-biggest real estate builder rose 20 percent to 51.65 rupees after its directors approved plans to raise as much as 50 billion rupees by selling shares to qualified institutional buyers.

The developer has raised $325 million from a sale of new shares, CNBC television reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pooja Thakur in Mumbai at pthakur@bloomberg.net