Indian stock-index futures advanced after the benchmark equity gauges rose for a fourth-day and Reliance (RIL) Industries Ltd.’s earnings topped estimates.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for July delivery added 0.4 percent to 7,694 at 10:01 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. gained 0.3 percent to 7,663.90 on July 18. The S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) climbed 0.3 percent to 25,641.56. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares jumped 2 percent to 1,351.57.
An advance today would cap the longest rising streak in three months for the Sensex after Indian equities received the highest foreign fund inflows in Asia this year. Reliance, which has the second-highest weighting in the gauge, posted a 5.5 percent increase in quarterly net income on July 19, exceeding analysts’ estimates as refining margins widened.
“Reliance earnings should have a moderately positive impact on the stock,” Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief strategist at SMC Global Securities Ltd., said by e-mail from New Delhi. “Markets will trade within a range, largely stock specific, driven by their quarterly results.”
Among companies due to report earnings today, HDFC Bank Ltd. (HDFCB) may say that profit rose to 23.2 billion rupees in the quarter ended June, according to the median of 34 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) may report profit of 13.6 billion rupees in the quarter ended June, according to a Bloomberg survey of 25 analysts.
About 60 percent of the Sensex companies posted earnings that beat or matched estimates in the March quarter. Around 73 percent of results beat forecasts in the preceding three months.
International investors have poured $ 11.7 billion into local equities this year on expectations Prime Minister Narendra Modi will help spur an economy growing at near the slowest pace in a decade.
The Sensex trades at 15.6 times projected 12-month profits, compared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s multiple of 11.1. The Sensex has surged 21 percent this year and is the best performer among the world’s 10 biggest markets.
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 Phani Varahabhotla, Chan Tien Hin