India Stocks Climb as Investors Anticipate RBI Policy Easing

Ronojoy Mazumdar

04 Oct 2019, 04:29 PM IST

(Bloomberg) -- India stocks rose as investors placed bets ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy announcement at 11:45 a.m. local time.

The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.5% to 38,315.97 as of 9:37 a.m. In Mumbai. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also gained 0.5%.

The central bank is widely expected to cut rates to support growth after five quarters of economic slowdown. After the benchmark repo rate was lowered by 110 basis points in the past year, the median estimate is for a further 25 basis point reduction in a survey of 39 economists compiled by Bloomberg. Markets have been roiled in the last few days by renewed concerns about the country’s financial sector.

Strategist View

“Financial sector concerns around shadow banking and the cooperative banking system are front and center,” said Sonal Varma, chief India and Asia-ex Japan economist at Nomura in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “Both growth and financial sector concerns call for easing.”

The Numbers

Sixteen of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. gained, led by a gauge of lenders.
HDFC Bank Ltd. contributed the most to the Sensex’s gain, rising 0.9%. IndusInd Bank Ltd. was the index’s performer, advancing 1.9%; Tata Motors Ltd. had the biggest drop, falling 1.3%.
The index has fallen 1.3% so far this week.

India Stocks Climb as Investors Anticipate RBI Policy Easing