Indian stock-index futures gained after benchmark gauges slid from all-time highs yesterday.
SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for November delivery rose 1.5 percent to 8,469.5 at 9:29 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty Index (NIFTY) fell less than 0.1 percent to 8,425.90 yesterday. The S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) also declined less than 0.1 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares added 0.1 percent.
The Sensex gauge has climbed to a record five times this month as foreigners have bought $ 1.5 billion of shares on optimism slowing inflation amid declining energy prices will allow the central bank to cut interest rates. International investors bought a net $ 122.7 million of Indian stocks on Nov. 17, extending this year’s inflow to $ 15.4 billion, the most among eight Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg.
“Foreign flows and optimistic expectations from the winter session of the parliament will keep market sentiment upbeat for the next one to two weeks,” Hiren Dhakan, associate fund manager at Bonanza Portfolio Ltd., wrote in an e-mail yesterday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accelerated policy changes aimed at spurring growth, ending price curbs on diesel and raising natural-gas tariffs. His Bharatiya Janata Party won the most seats in two state elections, victories that could make it easier to push ahead with tougher steps, including opening up more industries to foreign investment and introducing a goods-and-services tax.
Policy Meeting
The Reserve Bank of India meets for its next policy review on Dec. 2. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Nov. 17 that a rate cut would give a “good fillip” to the economy, according to a report by the Press Trust of India. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan raised the main repurchase rate three times from September 2013 through January to tackle retail inflation.
Consumer prices rose at the slowest pace since at least January 2012 last month, while wholesale price inflation was at the lowest since September 2009.
The Sensex has risen 33 percent this year, the best performer among the world’s 30 biggest markets, and is valued at 15.7 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s multiple of 11.
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 Matthew Oakley, Chan Tien Hin