Bloomberg/Mumbai

Indian stocks climbed as investors speculated the eight-day decline in the benchmark index was excessive. Resources, lenders and software companies climbed.

Sterlite Industries (India), the nation’s biggest copper producer, jumped 4.5%. Tata Consultancy Services gained for the second day. ICICI Bank rose the most in three weeks. Bharat Heavy Electricals slumped the most in more than nine years after reporting its biggest decline in profit since 2008.

The S&P BSE Sensex added 0.1% to 19,182.26 at the close, after rising 0.7% intraday. The gauge retreated 3% last week as a weak rupee spurred concern that capital outflows may accelerate and a trading halt at the biggest spot commodities bourse prompted speculation that some investors may sell shares to meet margin calls. The CNX Bank Index of lenders slid 4.5%, sending the gauge’s valuation to 1.6 times net assets, the cheapest since December 2011. The measure rose 1% yesterday.

“The fall in banking stocks stopped and that helped calm nerves a bit,” Kaushik Dani, a fund manager at Peerless Mutual Fund, which has about $745mn in assets, said by telephone from Mumbai.

Sterlite jumped 4.5% to Rs75.45, paring this year’s slide to 35%. Tata Consultancy, India’s largest software exporter, added 1.2% to Rs1,867.2. ICICI Bank added 1.7% to Rs902.45. Bank of India rallied 3.5% to Rs175.65, the top gainer on the bank index.

Bharat Heavy plunged 19% to Rs120.8, the most since May 2004 and the lowest level since November 2005. Net income fell 50% to Rs4.65bn ($76.4mn) in the three months ended June 30, missing the Rs7.9bn median of 39 analysts estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“It’s going to be stock-specific based on the quarterly earnings numbers this week as there isn’t much of a news flow to drive the markets,” Peerless Mutual’s Dani said.

Coal India, India’s monopoly producer of the fuel, jumped 3.3% to Rs263.15. The stock lost 10% last week, a third week of losses. The company reported first- quarter profit fell 17% to Rs37.3bn, trailing the Rs42.8bn estimated by analysts.

Religare Capital Markets pared its share estimate on Coal India by 14% to Rs295 even as the brokerage asked investors to buy the stock citing “attractive” valuation, according to a report yesterday. The shares trade at 8.9 times estimated 12-month profits. The Sensex is valued at 13.5 times.

Financial Technologies (India) soared 34% to 198.1 rupees after slumping 74% last week. The company’s unit, the National Spot Exchange, suspended trading in some commodities. The bourse contributed 56% to Financial Technologies’s net income in the year ended March 31.

The Multi Commodity Exchange of India, the nation’s biggest bullion bourse, tumbled by the daily limit for a third day amid concern that suspension of trading at an exchange founded by its parent will hurt profits. Financial Technologies owns 26% of MCX.

Goldman Sachs Group cut its rating on Indian stocks to underweight in a report dated July 31, citing a delayed recovery in growth and “rising vulnerability” of the nation’s economy. Goldman recommended investors buy “export-facing” stocks that stand to benefit from better external growth and a weaker rupee, and sell interest-rate sensitive shares.

Foreigners pulled $3bn from stocks and bonds last month, leaving the rupee vulnerable to a current-account gap that widened to a record 4.8% of gross domestic product in the year ended March. The rupee tumbled 3.5% last week. They bought a net $72.4mn of local shares on August 2, a fourth straight day of net purchase, taking this year’s inflow into stocks to $12.4bn, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They sold $986mn of Indian stocks in July.

“The next three to six months will be quite challenging for emerging-market countries like ours that depend on flows, which are moving toward developed markets,” Toral Munshi, head of India equity research at Credit Suisse Wealth Management, told Bloomberg TV India yesterday. She expects the Sensex to trade in the 18,500 to 20,000 range and advises investors to keep as much as 20% of their portfolios in cash.

The CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange gained 0.1% to 5,685.40. India VIX, which gauges the cost of protection against losses in the Nifty, decreased 0.4%.