India Sensex Set for Longest Stretch of Weekly Gains Since 2009

A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks near the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India, on Monday, July 6, 2020. The Sensex is headed for a four-month high, even as India overtook Russia to become the country with the third-largest caseload of coronavirus infections. Only the U.S. and Brazil now have more infections than India.

(Bloomberg) -- India’s stocks rose, with the benchmark index on course for its longest stretch of weekly gains since 2009 as vaccine optimism and expectations of more U.S. stimulus buoyed sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex has advanced 1.1% since Monday, set to complete a 10th week of gains. It climbed 0.7% to 48,412.33 as of 10:05 a.m, in Mumbai on Friday, while NSE Nifty 50 Index also climbed by the same magnitude.

Indian stocks have followed gains across Asia as vaccination programs aimed at stemming the pandemic begin and the formal endorsement of a new U.S. president and the Democrates winning control of the Senate fueled prospects of more economic stimulus. Locally, the quarterly earnings season begins today with Asia’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. due to report results.

“Liquidity is driving the market and new retail investors continue to join forces,” said Chokkalingam G, chief investment officer at Equinomics Research & Advisory Ltd. in Mumbai. “Investors have factored in good earnings and positives from the vaccine.”

The rupee weakened 0.1% to 73.3887 per U.S. dollar, while the yield on 10-year government bonds was steady at 5.86%.

The Numbers

All 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. rose, led by a gauge of software exporters
Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the Sensex advance, increasing 2.1%, while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. had the largest gain, rising 2.5%

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