HCL Technologies got lauded on Wednesday morning following reports that a HCL group joint venture has bagged a Rs 1-billion contract from a UK bank.

This set off some deal of buying in the scrip of the Shiv Nadar group company, taking it higher by 1.38% to Rs 169 by 10:05 IST on NSE. By that time, volumes in HCL Technologies reached 67,000 shares.

In the 11 sessions between 27 January and 11 February 2003, the scrip of India's fifth largest software company climbed 12.8% to Rs 166.70 from Rs 147.80.

There's some amount of glee for HCLT on reports that HCL Perot has bagged a huge Rs 100-crore order from BACS (UK's largest electronic funds transfer bank). The contract is for a four-year period, to manage application and platform service support for the BACS heritage infrastructure.

The counter has also been vindicated by reports that HCL Perot may get an even bigger order from an US-based insurance company.

Last month, HCLT announced disappointing second quarter ended 31 December 2002 results - a 34.6% fall in net profit to Rs 80.59 crore compared to Rs 123.22 crore (Rs 1.23 billion) in the corresponding period of the previous year. Revenues increased 16.6% to Rs 467.93 crore (Rs 4.67 billion) from Rs 401.26 crore (Rs 4.01 billion).