Morgan Stanley upgraded the bank to "overweight" from "equal", citing the pace of decline in credit costs and the improvement in its earnings quality. "We maintain our view that Indian banks are in the sweetest spot on a regional basis, hence, our positive view on the industry," Morgan Stanley said in a note. HDFC Bank, which rose as much as 5.1 percent intra-day, closed 4.5 percent higher at 1,767.55 rupees.
Top private lender ICICI Bank climbed 2.6 percent to 863.35 rupees. The 30-share BSE Index closed up 0.49 percent or 86.78 points at 17,641.08, as most companies announced robust December quarter earnings, but some analysts think it is attributed to a low base effect. Nineteen of its components gained. "We are going through a thick season of earnings," said Ajay Parmar, head of institutional equities at Emkay Global.
"We are comparing the best quarter of the current year with the worst quarter of the last year. It could be an optical illusion," he added. Tata Consultancy Services rose as much as 3.1 percent to a record high of 816.40 rupees in early deals, as brokerages upgraded the stock after the top software services exporter posted forecast-beating quarterly results. It closed 1 percent higher at 799.60 rupees.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgraded TCS to "buy" from "underperform", saying it should benefit from stabilisation in IT budgets and a pick up in demand particularly from the banking, financial services and insurance sectors. Auto stocks raced on expectations of spectacular December quarter results.
Hero Honda gained 4.4 percent, while Tata Motors climbed 1.5 percent. In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.2:1 in a volume of 512 million shares, lower than last week's average of 651 million shares. The 50-share NSE index closed 0.4 percent higher at 5,274.85.
Engineering and construction firm Jaiprakash Associates dropped 0.8 percent to 163.25 rupees as its October-December net profit fell 39 percent. State-run gas transporter Gail (India) rose 3.1 percent to 438.70 rupees, as its December quarter net profit more than tripled to 8.6 billion rupees. Cement maker Ultratech shed 3.4 percent to 1,002.05 rupees after it said its December quarter profit declined 17.64 percent.