Indian Shares Rise On Expectations Of Good Q4 Earnings By ICICI, Axis Bank

Indian stock markets gained Friday as shares of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank rallied ahead on expectations of good quarter four earnings.

Shares of ICICI Bank (ICBK.NS) rallied 2.73 percent, and Axis Bank's (AXBK.NS) shares advanced 2.44 percent on BSE.

BSE Sensex, which opened flat Friday, immediately gained 100 points by the buyers' interest in the private banks and tech shares in early trading.

The BSE benchmark gained 0.6 percent or 104 points to 17,235 and the NSE benchmark advanced by 0.6 percent or 31.55 points to 5,220.55.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, AXIS Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Mahindra and Mahindra and ITC moved up in the early trading while Infosys and Reliance Industries traded flat.

Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, the two leading private sector banks, will report their quarter four results after the closing of markets Friday.

ICICI Bank is expected to post a 20 percent increase in net profit to Rs 17 billion in the quarter ending March 31, led by higher loan growth, according to a Reuters' poll.

India's third largest private sector lender by market cap is expected to report a 16 percent growth in its profit after tax on a year-on-year basis for the fourth quarter of FY12, according to CNBC-TV18.