April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks rose, lifting the benchmark index to a six-month high, led by banks and energy producers on expectation a bigger crop harvest this year helped by early rainfall will boost economic growth.
State Bank of India, the nation's biggest lender, climbed 3.5 percent and ICICI Bank Ltd., the second-largest, jumped 9.1 percent. Reliance Industries Ltd., the country's biggest company by market value, added 4 percent after signing accords on natural gas sales with nine power companies.
"Domestic consumption in India will continue to be good with normal and early rains," said U.P. Bhat, who helps manage about $1.5 billion at Canara Robeco Asset Management Ltd. in Mumbai. "Overall, the sentiment for the economy is good."
The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, gained 3.7 percent to 11,403.25 at the 3:30 p.m. close of trading, the highest since Oct. 14. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange rose 3.3 percent to 3,473.95. The BSE 200 Index added 3.2 percent to 1,339.38. Nifty futures for April delivery climbed 3.6 percent to 3,473.90.
Reliance will sell about 11 million cubic meters a day of gas to 11 plants belonging to the nine companies, Reliance said yesterday. The stock added 4 percent to 1,806.25 rupees, the most in four weeks.
ICICI, State Bank
India designated fuel-starved power producers and fertilizer makers as priority customers for the gas to be produced from Reliance's Krishna-Godavari field, which is expected to more than double the country's output of the fuel.
State Bank of India climbed 3.5 percent to 1,278.6 rupees while ICICI Bank surged 9.1 percent to 479.2 rupees. HDFC Bank Ltd. added 2.7 percent to 1,100.35 rupees. Housing Development Finance Corp., the nation's biggest home mortgage lender, gained 3.7 percent to 1,726.95 rupees.
The monsoon may arrive a week ahead of its normal June 1 date, D. Sivananda Pai, a director at India Meteorological Department, said yesterday on a conference call organized by brokerage Edelweiss Securities Ltd. That will boost prospects for an early planting of crops such as rice, oilseeds and cotton. About 235 million farmers rely on the timing of the four-month rainy season to decide which crops to grow.
Adequate rainfall will help sustain the record 4.3 percent average growth in farm output that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has presided over since 2005, raising incomes among the 742 million Indians who live in the countryside and help counter the slowest growth since March 2003.
Overseas investors bought a net 18.4 billion rupees ($368 million) of Indian stocks April 27, bringing their total equity purchases this year to $92.3 billion, according to the nation's market regulator.
The following shares were among the most active on the exchange:
Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (STLT IN) gained 7.1 percent to 410.05 rupees, the most since March 13. The country's biggest copper and zinc producer said net profit fell 55 percent to 5.98 billion rupees. The profit exceeded the 4.5 billion rupee median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL IN), the nation's biggest maker of wind-turbine generators, rose 5.8 percent to 63.6 rupees. The company's bondholders are meeting in London to discuss a plan to reduce liabilities by changing the terms of its $500 million debt.
Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd. (BRCM IN) gained 7.8 percent to 69.85 rupees, the most since April 13, after the government said it will permit sugar importers to freely sell the commodity in the local market and won't direct them to divest part of it to the government.
Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM IN) added 3.5 percent to 214.8 rupees after India's second-largest mobile-phone operator said it will buy back $24.7 million of outstanding notes from its $1 billion in zero coupon convertible bonds due 2012. Reliance will pay 85 cents on the dollar for the notes after a tender offer to investors, it said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gaurav Singh in New Delhi at gsingh31@bloomberg.net .
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