Lockdown Exit Optimism Helps India Stocks Extend Winning Streak

(Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks climbed for a fourth day after the government unveiled steps to start easing the nationwide lockdown.

The S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 Index rose more than 2.5% at the close in Mumbai, marking their longest winning streak since April 30. Both indexes slid 3% last month after April's rebound from record losses on March 23, when the lockdown began. The sentiment was bolstered by the buoyancy in Asia, where stocks rose after U.S. President Donald Trump Friday stopped short of specifying sanctions over China's new national security law for Hong Kong.

India plans a phased lifting by allowing malls, restaurants and places of worship to open from June 8, as the country attempts to revive an economy ravaged by the world's toughest stay-at-home curbs. The stringent rules will be limited to areas that have a large number of active cases, until at least June 30.

“Opening up the economy is compulsory to manage the coming contraction in growth even as virus cases continue to rise,” said Chokkalingam G, head of investment advisory at Equinomics Research & Advisory Pvt. in Mumbai. “Not opening up the economy will lead to an unmanageable crisis.”

Economists are betting on contraction in India's gross domestic product in the fiscal year through March 2021, which would be the first decline in more than four decades. The nation's GDP expanded 3.1% in the March quarter compared with a year ago, the government said in a report Friday. That was higher than the 1.6% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The yield on most-traded 6.45% 2029 notes was up 2 basis points to 6.03%, while the rupee strengthened by 0.4% to 75.3075 per U.S. dollar.

The Numbers

All of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by a measure of consumer durables stocks.
Bajaj Finance Ltd. and Titan Co. were among the top gainers on the benchmark index.