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Bloomberg
Indian equities capped a third day of gains as investors picked out value in a market that’s one of the region’s best-performers this year.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.4 percent to 39,950.46 at the close in Mumbai, paring a larger gain, and the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by the same magnitude.
India’s key equity indexes have added more than 10 percent so far this year amid national elections that last month gave a stronger mandate to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fanning speculation that his government will bolster the slowing economy. Concerns about any shortfall in India’s monsoon rainfall and the US-China trade war curbing growth may temper further gains.
“The way the market is priced right now, we expect very little downside or upside,†said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, group chairman at Inditrade Capital Ltd in Mumbai. The global trade war, progress on India’s rainfall, the government’s federal budget expected next month, and how the economy recovers will now be “watched carefully†by investors, he said.
Seventeen of the 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd rose, paced by a gauge of metal stocks. Twenty-four of the 31 Sensex members climbed, while 33 of the 50 Nifty stocks gained. Tata Motors Ltd’s 2.7 percent gain was the steepest among Sensex firms, that halted a four-day losing streak at India’s top truck maker. Sun Pharmaceutical
Industries Ltd fell 3 percent after the nation’s biggest drugmaker was downgraded to sell at Goldman Sachs & Co Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd slid 8 percent after the mortgage lender denied an allegation that its chairman had siphoned off funds.