India's benchmark share market index finished higher for the second consecutive session Friday after commercial banking giant State Bank of India (SBI) enthused investors' sentiment with strong quarterly earnings numbers.

Dealers said the stock market opened for the day little changed from its previous session's close as investors stayed on the sidelines of the trading ring in the absence of any positive buying trigger.

The index slipped lower in early trade on institutional profit taking in heavyweight equities. Lack of foreign fund buying interest in the Indian equity market also led to lacklustre trade on the bourses.

The investor mood, however, got a lift in the second half of the trading session after SBI unveiled its January-March quarterly financial numbers that bettered the street expectations.

SBI, the country's largest bank, said Friday is profit in the quarter ended March 31, 2005 rose 22 percent to Rs.10.65 billion. Total income of the state-run bank jumped six percent to Rs.103.4 billion.

"The moderate market rally on the bourses today was mainly led by SBI. The overall market trading pattern was very lacklustre in the absence of bulk buying," said an analyst with a domestic brokerage firm.

"Sustained selling by overseas fund investors is one of the main concerns inside the trading ring now. The market will continue to be volatile in the absence of large-scale fund investments," said the analyst.

India's January-March quarterly corporate financial earnings season started in the first week of April and a host of new and old economy companies unveiled their financial report cards in the last few weeks.

Investors closely track financial reports and earnings projections of heavyweight companies and respective industry leaders such as Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies to firm up their investment decisions.

In the old economy sector, shares of SBI closed with a gain of 1.7 percent at Rs.649.15 on fresh institutional buying interest.

Shares of ICICI Bank rose 0.8 percent to Rs.396.30 on reports that it had acquired the entire paid-up capital of a Russian bank as part of its international expansion strategy.

Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB) is a Russian bank with its registered office in Balabanovo in the Kaluga region and a branch in Moscow. IKB had total assets of about $4.4 million as on March 31, 2005.