India’s benchmark stock index fell for the second day, led by industrial companies and lenders.
Coal India Ltd. (COAL) lost 2 percent after an Indian antitrust body imposed a 17.7-billion rupee ($ 288 million) penalty on the world’s biggest producer of the fuel. Turbine producer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. headed for the biggest two-day decline in two months. ICICI Bank Ltd. (ICICIBC) retreated 1 percent, sending a gauge of lenders to its lowest level in a week.
The S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.5 percent to 21,143.19 at 9:44 a.m. in Mumbai. The gauge climbed to an all-time high on Dec. 9, sending valuations to a five-week high, after the Bharatiya Janata Party won the state elections, giving it momentum to end the ruling Congress party’s decade-long rule in polls due by May and install Narendra Modi as prime minister.
The state polls are the final test for India’s (SENSEX) two major parties before a national vote that must be held by May 2014. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised India to market weight from underweight on Nov. 5, saying the state polls may signal an opposition win in the federal vote, helping spur investment.
The CNX Nifty (NIFTY) Index on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. declined 0.5 percent to 6,303.85.
The Sensex has climbed 8.9 percent this year, the best performer among the four largest emerging markets, and trades at 13.8 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s 10.6 times.
To contact the reporter on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net
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