Indian stock-index futures swung between gains and losses after benchmark gauges gained for a fourth day yesterday.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for May delivery rose 0.2 percent to 7,303 at 9:50 a.m. in Singapore after losing 0.1 percent. The underlying CNX Nifty Index increased 0.2 percent to a record 7,275.50 yesterday. The S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) added 0.1 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.- traded shares climbed 0.4 percent.
The Sensex has jumped 24 percent since the Bharatiya Janata Party named Narendra Modi as its candidate for prime minister on Sept. 13, boosting the value of Indian equities by $ 412 billion. Modi will be sworn in on May 26 after the BJP and its allies won the first parliamentary majority in 30 years.
“We reiterate our sideways view on the index for the next session,” Jayant Manglik, president of Religare Securities Ltd., wrote in an e-mail. “However, the overall bias is still on the positive side.”
If Modi pursues the anti-corruption policies he’s promised, India has the potential to grow about 10 percent annually for the next 20 years, according to Jim O’Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
International investors have plowed $ 14.4 billion into Indian shares since Modi’s nomination, speculating he’ll do more than the outgoing Congress Party-led alliance to revive economic growth from near the weakest pace in a decade.
Foreign funds bought a net $ 242.9 million of Indian stocks on May 19, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That took this year’s inflows to $ 7.6 billion, the most among eight Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg.
The Sensex has climbed 15 percent this year and is valued at 15.1 times projected 12-month earnings, the most expensive in three years. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index trades at 10.7 times.
To contact the reporter on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net Matthew Oakley, Chan Tien Hin