India Stocks Rise as Earnings Growth Prospects Lure Investors

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building stands 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. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- India stocks rose, buoyed by prospects of earnings growth.

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.3% to 49,568.70 as of 10:01 a.m. in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.4%. Both measures are set to gain for a second day.

“Earnings are coming in and they are reasonably good while commentary is supportive,” said Amit Khurana, head of research at Dolat Capital Market Ltd. in Mumbai.

Foreign fund purchases have pushed India’s key equity gauges to successive new records this year, while all five of the Nifty 50 companies that have reported quarterly results so far have beaten estimates. Still, technical signals suggest the market is overbought, and some strategists suggest earnings estimates are overly optimistic.

Bajaj Finance Ltd. and Bajaj Finserv Ltd. are due to report results for the quarter ended December later today.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond was little changed at 5.9%, while the rupee appreciated 0.1% to 73.1175 per U.S. dollar.

The Numbers

Ten out of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced
Sixteen shares on the Sensex index rose while 14 fell
- Infosys Ltd. contributed most to the index advance with a 1.8% jump, while Tata Motors Ltd. was the biggest winner, rising 3.5%