Indian stock-index futures swung between gains and losses before the expiry of derivatives contracts this week.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for December delivery rose 0.1 percent to 6,311 at 9:37 a.m. in Singapore after losing 0.1 percent. The underlying CNX Nifty (NIFTY) Index increased 0.2 percent to 6,284.50 yesterday. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.1 percent to 21,101.03. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.- traded shares added 0.5 percent.
Indian futures contracts expire on the last Thursday of every month. The country’s financial markets are closed tomorrow for a holiday. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose for a sixth day today after data showed the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum.
“We expect markets to trade in a range in the holiday week, and the expiry on Thursday will add some volatility,” Kaushik Dani, a fund manager at Peerless Mutual Fund, which has about $ 460 million in assets, said from Mumbai yesterday.
Global investors bought a net $ 134.6 million of local shares on Dec. 20, data from the market regulator showed yesterday. That took this year’s inflow to $ 19.7 billion, the most in Asia after Japan.
Foreign funds have bought a net $ 800 million of Indian (SENSEX) stocks since the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly maintained interest rates on Dec. 18, allaying concerns inflows may slow after the Federal Reserve said the same day it will start unwinding stimulus.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said the central bank needs more clarity on economic data before deciding whether to increase borrowing costs again amid accelerating consumer prices and the slowest economic growth in more than a decade.
The Sensex has climbed 8.6 percent this year and trades at 13.6 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s 10.4 times.
To contact the reporter on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Allen Wan at awan3@bloomberg.net
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