Indian stock-index futures gained before the government reports monthly consumer-price inflation and industrial output data today.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for August delivery climbed 0.5 percent to 7,679.5 at 9:42 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty Index (NIFTY) rose 0.8 percent to 7,625.95 yesterday, the first advance in four days. The S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) also increased 0.8 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.- traded shares added 1.6 percent.
Consumer prices accelerated 7.4 percent from the previous year in July, according to the median forecast of 42 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has prioritized curbing food costs as part of an agenda to revive economic growth from near a decade low. The Reserve Bank of India has signaled it could ease monetary policy if inflation slows more quickly than anticipated. Industrial production expanded 5.6 percent, compared with 4.7 percent the previous month, according to a Bloomberg survey.
“The market is likely to track inflation and production numbers,” Shrikant Chouhan, head of technical research at Kotak Securities Ltd., wrote in an e-mail.
Modi is pushing to stem price gains to allow the RBI to lower one of Asia’s highest policy interest rates. Consumer inflation dropped to 7.3 percent in June, a second straight decline. While that’s the slowest since the index’s creation in 2012, it’s still the second-fastest among 18 Asia-Pacific economies tracked by Bloomberg. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan wants to slow retail inflation to less than 8 percent by January 2015 and to 6 percent in the following 12 months.
Earnings Reports
Coal India Ltd. (COAL), the world’s largest producer, may report today that first-quarter group profit rose about 7 percent from a year earlier to 39.8 billion rupees ($ 651 million), according to the median estimate of 31 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Power-equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) may report net income dropped 30 percent to 3.24 billion rupees, according to a Bloomberg survey of 32 analysts.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (SUNP), the nation’s biggest drugmaker, may swing to a first-quarter profit of 14 billion rupees, according to 35 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company reported a loss of 12.8 billion rupees a year earlier after a one-time loss.
Tata Power Co. (TPWR) quarterly net income may be 2.22 billion rupees, compared with a loss of 1.15 billion rupees in the same period last year, 16 analysts forecast.
Twelve of the 22 Sensex companies that have announced results so far for the quarter ended June 30 have beaten or matched forecasts.
Foreign investors sold a net $ 75.9 million of local stocks on Aug. 7, the first net outflow in five days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That pared this year’s purchases to $ 12 billion, still the most in Asia.
The Sensex has jumped 21 percent this year and is valued at 15.1 times forecast earnings, compared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s multiple of 11.1.
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