India’s Sensex Surges to Record High as Bank Stocks Gain
India’s Sensex Surges to Record High as Bank Stocks Gain
(Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks extended recent gains amid an earnings season that has buoyed investor optimism about the outlook for companies’ profit growth and sent the benchmark index to record closes in eight of the last 11 trading sessions.
The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.4 percent to 37,691.89 at close in Mumbai. As many as 12 out of the 19 sectoral sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by gauges of banking and telecom stocks. ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. were among top performers on the main gauge.
“Quarterly earnings have been better than estimates so far,” Rajendra Wadher, a director at PRB Securities Ltd., said by phone. “This time the mid and small cap stocks have joined the party, which has raised the overall sentiments.”
The Sensex has advanced 11 percent this year, holding its place as Asia Pacific’s best performing market. So far, of the 35 NSE Nifty 50 companies that have announced results, 21 have either met or exceeded average analyst estimates. Nestle India Ltd. surged 2 percent after posting net income that beat the consensus analyst estimate by about 6.5 percent, while Titan Co.’s profit exceeded expectations by about 11 percent.
The S&P BSE mid cap gauge had its longest winning streak this year and rose to a three-month high. The index of small cap companies climbed for a 12th straight session.
To contact the reporter on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, James Cone
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.