Indian Stocks Rise as Investors Assess Earnings and U.S. Debate

(Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks rose, tracking broad gains in Asia, as investors digested the final U.S. presidential debate while also assessing the quality of local earnings.

The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.3% to 40,685.50 in Mumbai, within 1.4% of erasing its year-to-date loss. For the week, the gauge has gained about 1.8%, its third weekly rise in four. The NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 0.3% on Friday.

A reopening of India’s economy as new virus infections decline, and a pick up in foreign inflows have brought the Sensex closer to levels last seen before the coronavirus outbreak. However, some fund managers are wary about how far earnings have recovered from the world’s strictest lockdown.

“The market has come to pre-Covid levels, but earnings have declined over this period,” reducing the risk-reward, said Aneesh Srivastava, chief investment officer at Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. “We are staying away for now, but we are also keeping an eye on earnings.”

Seven of the 14 Nifty 50 firms that have so far posted quarterly results either beat or met analyst estimates, while an equal number have missed. Tech Mahindra Ltd. and Nestle India Ltd. are among companies scheduled to announce earnings Friday.

The rupee weakened 0.1% to 73.6050 per U.S. dollar, while the yield on 10-year government bonds fell seven basis points to 5.84%.

The Numbers

• Thirteen of 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by a gauge of auto stocks
• Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. contributed the most to the Sensex gain and had the largest move, rising 4.4%

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