IT shares rally lifts India Sensex to record high a second day

Bloomberg

Indian shares advanced a second day, with the key indexes extending record highs, paced by a rally in software exporters.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex added 0.1 percent to close at 31,747.09 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index gained 0.2 percent. The Sensex closed at an all-time high level for the third day in four trading sessions.
A relatively fast-growing economy, policy reforms, strengthening currency and an improving earnings outlook have boosted Indian shares this year, with overseas and local funds buying more than $14 billion worth of equities, according to the latest data compiled by Bloomberg.
That, “combined with a strong domestic demand environment and impressive progress on the structural reforms front, has kept the investor sentiments intact, despite the recent run” in stocks, HSBC Securities & Capital Markets (India) Pvt. said in an investor note.
Six of the 13 sector gauges compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by the S&P BSE Information Technology Index’s 0.9 percent gain. Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. provided the biggest boosts to the industry gauge before earnings reports due later this week. The index is still the worst performer in 2017 after the health-care measure.
“It is quite plausible that earnings growth compounds annually at 20 percent in the coming five years, led by government infrastructure spending, consumption and exports,” Morgan Stanley said in an investor note on July 10.
The Narendra Modi government is “on a path
of re-election” in 2019, a positive for stocks, the broker said.