Yes Bank Boosts India Equities to Their First Gain in Three Days
Indian Stocks Fluctuate Ahead of Budget, Rate Meeting
(Bloomberg) -- Indian equities -- that fluctuated between gains and losses for most of Thursday -- capped their first advance in three days, boosted by a rally in shares of a private lender after it announced a new chief.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.2 percent to 36,195.10 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Mumbai, after swinging at least twelve times between a high of 0.4 percent and a low of 0.3 percent. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also added 0.2 percent.
The gauges got a boost in the last 30 minutes after Yes Bank Ltd. in its earnings filing named a Deutsche Bank AG veteran Ravneet Gill as its new head, which should help resolve a leadership crisis. Barring moves related to earnings, global trade negotiations, next week’s national budget, the Reserve Bank of India’s rate meeting on Feb. 7 and campaigning for general elections starting in April may influence investors’ interest in equities.
Strategist Views
- “The present level of the indexes is neither a ceiling nor a floor for the coming five months,” said Sanjay Sinha, founder of Citrus Advisors in Mumbai. “Four significant events are playing out” that may influence investors, he said, citing earnings that are scheduled to end on Feb. 15, the interim budget being unveiled on Feb. 1, monetary policy, and federal elections.
- “These earnings were already discounted in the recent rally,” he said.
- “Investors are unnecessarily focusing on national elections as a key risk to markets; they should be more worried about global events such as the U.S. slipping into a recession, the impact of Brexit on the European Union, and a China slowdown,” Sinha said.
The Numbers
- Nine of the 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. rallied, paced by a gauge of property stocks. The S&P BSE Telecom Index’s 2 percent drop was the steepest.
- Eighteen of the 31 Sensex stocks retreated, led by Tata Motors Ltd.’s 2.7 percent decline. Twenty-six of the 50 Nifty companies dropped.
- Net incomes of nine of the 14 Nifty companies that have reported earnings so far have topped or beaten analyst estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
- Yes Bank jumped 9.2 percent, the steepest in nearly four months, even as its third-quarter net income trailed estimates.
- Thirumalai Chemicals Ltd. plunged by its daily 20 percent limit, most since October 2015, after it reported a 78 percent slump in its net income from a year earlier.
- Tejas Networks Ltd. tumbled by a record 14 percent to an all-time low after its December quarter revenue dropped 20 percent from a year ago.
Analyst Notes/Market-Related Stories
- Brexit, Local Sales Outlook Keep CLSA ‘Negative’ on Tata Motors
- Growth for Bharti Infratel Unlikely Before FY21: JM Financial
- PREVIEW ICICI Bank, SBI: Less Competition Set to Boost Profits
To contact the reporter on this story: Ameya Karve in Mumbai at akarve@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Margo Towie, Kurt Schussler
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