Indian stock-index futures rose, signaling the benchmark equity gauge may stay on track for its biggest quarterly gain in more than two years.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for July delivery climbed 0.1 percent to 7,546 at 10:41 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. advanced 0.2 percent to 7,508.80 on June 27. The S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) added increased 0.2 percent to 25,099.92. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares gained 0.9 percent to 1,309.02.
The Sensex has jumped 12 percent this quarter, the most among Asian indexes, and is bound for its sharpest rally since the period ended March 2012. Investor attention is focused on the federal budget, due to be presented on July 10, after India raised railway passenger and freight fares this month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he’s ready to take unpopular steps to improve the nation’s fiscal health.
“A progressive budget as well as other reform initiatives will likely lead to continued out-performance of Indian indexes versus emerging market peers,” Dipen Shah, head of private-client group research at Kotak Securities Ltd., said by e-mail on June 27. “The rise in railway passenger fares and freight charges have raised hopes of a reforms-oriented budget.”
The Controller General of Accounts will release April-May fiscal deficit data today. Shares of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and lender ICICI Bank Ltd., may be active before their annual shareholders’ meetings.
The Sensex trades at 15.4 times projected 12-month profits, near the most expensive level in more than three years, and compares with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s multiple of 11.
Overseas investors sold a net $ 86.8 million of Indian shares on June 26, paring this year’s inflows to $ 9.88 billion, the second-largest amount among the eight Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg, after Taiwan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rajhkumar K Shaaw in Mumbai at rshaaw@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net Phani Varahabhotla, Chan Tien Hin