Closing Bell
Indian shares started the week on a relatively firm footing as investors gauged the ongoing corporate earnings season for signs of a pickup in economic activity.
The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.3 percent t0 28,179 while the NSE Nifty gained 0.2 percent to 8,708. The market breadth was in favour of the buyers at 928 advances, 703 declines and 256 stocks remaining unchanged.
The S&P BSE India Oil & Gas Index rose to its highest level since January 2008, while a gauge of 10 lenders added about 1 percent after surging 4 percent last week.
Foreign investors have been bullish on India amid prospects for higher economic growth and more reforms from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. Mark Mobius, the executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said on Friday that the South Asian nation is its top pick in emerging markets. The Sensex has rallied 23 percent from a February low, sending valuations to near the highest in eight months relative to a gauge of global equities.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India’s largest state-owned oil explorer, jumped 4.5 percent to its highest level in 15 months after announcing a free share plan. It was the top gainer on the Sensex. ICICI Bank Ltd., the country’s biggest private lender, rose about 2.5 percent, extending last week’s 15 percent surge. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG both raised the stock to buy.
Wipro Ltd. was the top loser on the Sensex with a 3 percent decline after the nation’s third-biggest software services provider “guided for negative to flat revenues" for the next quarter, brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd. wrote in a report. The company’s second-quarter profit and sales beat estimates.
(With inputs from Bloomberg News)
Closing Bell
Indian shares started the week on a relatively firm footing as investors gauged the ongoing corporate earnings season for signs of a pickup in economic activity.
The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.3 percent t0 28,179 while the NSE Nifty gained 0.2 percent to 8,708. The market breadth was in favour of the buyers at 928 advances, 703 declines and 256 stocks remaining unchanged.
The S&P BSE India Oil & Gas Index rose to its highest level since January 2008, while a gauge of 10 lenders added about 1 percent after surging 4 percent last week.
Foreign investors have been bullish on India amid prospects for higher economic growth and more reforms from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. Mark Mobius, the executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said on Friday that the South Asian nation is its top pick in emerging markets. The Sensex has rallied 23 percent from a February low, sending valuations to near the highest in eight months relative to a gauge of global equities.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India’s largest state-owned oil explorer, jumped 4.5 percent to its highest level in 15 months after announcing a free share plan. It was the top gainer on the Sensex. ICICI Bank Ltd., the country’s biggest private lender, rose about 2.5 percent, extending last week’s 15 percent surge. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG both raised the stock to buy.
Wipro Ltd. was the top loser on the Sensex with a 3 percent decline after the nation’s third-biggest software services provider “guided for negative to flat revenues" for the next quarter, brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd. wrote in a report. The company’s second-quarter profit and sales beat estimates.
(With inputs from Bloomberg News)