Investors Take a Pause on Indian Stocks After Six-Day Rally

(Bloomberg) -- Indian equities dropped in volatile trading on Thursday as investors paused for breath after the longest winning run since November.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 0.4% and 0.3% respectively at the close, after earlier rising as much as 0.6% each. Both gauges snapped their six-day winning streak, which took the two indexes to their highest close in almost three months -- levels seen before the world's toughest stay-at-home curbs were imposed late March. A global rally in risk assets also lost steam as the U.S. dollar recouped some of its recent losses.

“The concern is we've rallied too much, too soon so we may see some consolidation,” said Anita Gandhi, investment adviser at Arihant Capital Markets Ltd. in Mumbai. “There are some mixed signals.”

India's easing of curbs will see malls, restaurants, and places of worship reopening from June 8 as the country attempts to revive an economy that's headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades. The blow from a virtual shutdown of a nation of 1.3 billion people has been so severe that economists are struggling to forecast how long it will take to recover.

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Still, India's services sector activity picked up in May, even as the coronavirus infections have gone past 216,000, according to data published by IHS Markit. Even after a rebound from a low in March, the Sensex is down about 18% for the year, more than double the drop in the regional MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

The rupee fell 0.1% against the dollar, extending yesterday's losses. The yield on the most-traded 6.45% 2029 bond fell 2 basis points to 6.01%.

The Numbers

Twelve of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. rose, led by a measure of telecom stocks.
Tech Mahindra Ltd. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were among the top gainers on Sensex.
Asian Paints Ltd. and Bajaj Finance Ltd. declined.