(Bloomberg) -- India stocks rose amid signs that economies are improving and on progress in developing vaccines.
The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 1.2% to a record at 44,655.44 in Mumbai, with two stocks advancing for each one that declined. The NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 1.1% to a new high. Market were closed for a holiday on Monday.
“The progress on vaccine development provides confidence to businesses that consumer demand would normalize faster,” said Kranthi Bathini, an equity strategist at WealthMills Securities Ltd. “Strong buying by foreigners has driven the market to all-time highs, and that itself provides an opportunity for some to book profits.”
Net overseas equity purchases of $14.9 billion so far this year through Nov. 26 are already the most since 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That helped India's key equity gauges in November cap their best month since April.
Meanwhile, India's economy contracted a less-than-expected 8.1% in the last quarter, when it entered an unprecedented recession, a report after Friday's market close showed. The numbers were “quite encouraging” given the pandemic and when compared with a 24% drop in the previous quarter, said the government's chief economic advisor, Krishnamurthy Subramanian.
INDIA INSIGHT: Recovery Resumes at Slow Pace - Virus Dashboard
The rupee strengthened 0.5% to 73.6675 per U.S. dollar, while the yield on 10-year government bonds climbed two basis points to 5.93%.
The Numbers
- All but one of 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. rose, led by a gauge of real estate companies
- Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the Sensex advance, increasing 3.3%, while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. had the largest gain, rising 5.5%
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