India stocks eke out gains ahead of holidays

Indian shares eked out gains ahead of holidays as crude oil resumed its decline, reducing the cost of the nation’s biggest import, and as profits at top 50 companies mostly matched or exceeded analyst estimates.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.1% to 34,991.91 points at the close in Mumbai after fluctuating at least 10 times between loss and gain in the last 90 minutes.

Tata Consultancy Services – Asia’s biggest software exporter – paced the rally among Sensex members, while Vedanta dropped the most. Investors will make ceremonial purchases in a one-hour trading session today to mark Diwali, the festival of lights. Markets will be fully closed tomorrow.

The Sensex has held its gain in November after dropping nearly 11% in the past two months, the worst such back- to-back decline since February 2016, as Brent crude rose to its highest level in four years, clouding outlooks on economic growth and corporate profits.

Also, a series of repayment defaults by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services sparked concerns of a debt crisis, triggering a cash crunch.

“Oil isn’t rising as much as it was envisaged – in fact dropping below $75 now – is a big positive for global markets and particularly India,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, group chairman of Inditrade Capital in Mumbai. “Even as liquidity issues still persist, there are many interesting opportunities after the recent drop in stock prices.”

Brent futures traded 0.3% lower, set for a sixth day of declines in seven, and down more than 15% from their 2018 high on October 3. Of the 43 Nifty 50 Index companies that have reported earnings so far, 25 have either matched or beaten analyst estimates.

The NSE Nifty 50 added 0.1%. Eight of the 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE climbed, paced by a gauge of technology stocks, while a measure of consumerdurable shares led declines.

Meanwhile the rupee strengthened marginally against US dollar yesterday. Traders avoided taking huge positions as market will remain closed today and tomorrow holidays.

The Indian currency was trading at 72.97 a dollar, up 0.22% from its Monday’s close of 73.13. The currency opened at 72.91 a dollar.

The 10-year government bond yield stood at 7.799% from its previous close of 7.808%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

So far this year, the rupee has declined 12.5%, while foreign investors have sold $5.65bn and $7.81bn in the equity and debt markets, respectively.

Indonesian rupiah was up 0.77%, Philippines peso 0.21%, China renminbi 0.06%. However, Malyasian ringgit was down 0.43%, Thai baht, Japanese yen and China Offshore were down 0.08% each.