Indian stock-index futures gained, signaling benchmark indexes may rally after the biggest two-day loss in a month.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for August delivery rose 0.3 percent to 5,962 at 9:46 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty (NIFTY) Index plunged 1.4 percent to 5,907.50 yesterday, the lowest level since July 10. The S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 1.4 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.- traded shares rose 0.6 percent.
The Sensex has lost 2.5 percent in the past two days, heading for its first weekly loss in five weeks, after the Reserve Bank of India tightened banks’ access to cash on July 23 to steady a weakening rupee. The moves should not be seen as indicating a forthcoming major shift in monetary policy, Raghuram Rajan, the Finance Ministry’s chief economic adviser, said yesterday. The central bank meets for its next review on July 30.
“At best, we can see some bounce-back due to the sharp fall over two days, and there may be some buying in beaten-down sectors or in stocks where earnings have positively surprised,” Arun Kejriwal, director at Kejriwal Research & Investment Services, said by phone from Mumbai yesterday. “Investors will resist from taking big bets ahead of the RBI review next week.”
Earnings Reports
The central bank raised two interest rates and drained liquidity in the past two weeks, joining nations including Brazil and Indonesia in tightening policy to check currency volatility. RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao maintained interest rates at the last policy meeting in June, citing persistent inflation risks, after cutting the benchmark repurchase rate three times this year to spur an economy that grew at the slowest pace in a decade in the year ended March 31.
Wipro Ltd. (WPRO), India’s third-biggest software exporter, may report today profit of 16.15 billion rupees ($ 273 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 15.8 billion a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 38 analysts in a Bloomberg Survey.
Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUVR), India’s biggest household products maker, may announce first-quarter net income of 8.67 billion rupees, compared with 13.3 billion rupees a year earlier, according to the median of 34 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Earnings for the same period last year were higher because of a one-time gain from some real estate sales.
Four of the 11 Sensex members that have posted earnings so far for the June quarter missed analyst estimates. About 27 percent of companies in the measure missed forecasts for the three months ended March, and 43 percent in the quarter through December, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The Sensex has gained 2 percent this year and trades at 13.9 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s 10 times.
Global funds sold a net $ 65.8 million of local shares on July 24, paring this year’s net purchases to $ 12.3 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They have sold $ 1.02 billion of Indian (SENSEX) stocks this month, the most among 10 Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg, extending June’s $ 1.8 billion sell-off.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rajhkumar K Shaaw in Mumbai at rshaaw@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net