India's Sensex Snaps Six-Session Gain on Oil Prices, Trade Talks

(Bloomberg) -- India’s shares fell as higher crude prices and confusing signals over the U.S.-China trade talks snapped the benchmark’s longest run of gains in four months. Investors are also awaiting the outcome of state election results to assess the political mood before a national ballot in 2019.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.3 percent to 36,134.31 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 0.1 percent. The states of Rajasthan and Telangana will go to polls on Dec. 7.

The Numbers

• Twelve of the 19 sector sub-gauges compiled by BSE Ltd. slipped, led by the consumer goods index’s 0.7 percent loss.
• Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd. were the biggest drags on the Sensex.
• Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. was among the worst performers on the main gauge.

Strategist View

• “We will have to see how oil prices react in the coming weeks and what is the stance of the oil-producing countries to the production cuts,” said Chokkalingam G, managing director at Equinomics Research & Advisory Pvt. in Mumbai.
  • Price of Brent crude, India’s biggest import, climbed to $62.28 a barrel on Tuesday after slipping into bear territory last month.
• “The main event is elections, and investors wish to understand in which direction the political wind is blowing,” said A. K. Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd. in Mumbai.
  • Vote counting for all five Indian states will be held on Dec. 11. The exit polls will be out in the evening of Dec. 7.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nupur Acharya in Mumbai at nacharya7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Margo Towie, Cecile Vannucci

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