Indian Stocks Gain in Volatile Trade as Investors Mull Earnings
Indian Stocks Decline as Investors Mull Outlook for Earnings
(Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks rose in a volatile trading session, as investors mulled the outlook for company earnings after software services provider Wipro Ltd. declined to provide guidance for the first time since 2009.
The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.7% to 30,602.61 at the 3:30 p.m close in Mumbai, after swinging between a loss of as much as 1.2% and a gain of as much as 1.4%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 0.8%, with about two stocks rising for each one that fell.
“People are asking if companies are going to survive for the next five years,” said Ashish Chaturmohta, a technicals and derivatives analyst at Sanctum Wealth Management Pvt. “If they think so, they are buying them now.”
Wipro, which gets most of its sales abroad, refrained from giving an outlook until it has greater certainty, it said when reporting quarterly results after market close Wednesday. The stock gained 0.7%. Larger rival Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. is scheduled to report earnings after the market closes today. India’s economy may be heading for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades as the country remains under the world’s biggest lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
The rupee weakened 0.4% to 76.7937 per U.S. dollar after touching 76.82, an all-time low. The 10-year bond yield rose two basis points to 6.44%.
The Numbers
- Fifteen of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by a gauge of power companies
- ICICI Bank Ltd. provided the biggest boost to the Sensex with a 4.5% jump, while NTPC Ltd.’s 3.7% gain was the biggest; HCL Technologies Ltd.’s 4% drop was the steepest.
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