Indian stocks fluctuate
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
MUMBAI, July 28 (Bloomberg): India's stocks fluctuate. ICICI Bank Ltd. leading lenders lower after the central bank kept interest rates unchanged at a meeting today, while Tata Motors Ltd. rose after its earnings beat analysts' estimates.
ICICI Bank, the second-biggest bank, declined 1.8 per cent. India's central bank kept borrowing costs unchanged, signaling an end to its deepest round of interest-rate cuts on concern inflation will "creep up" from October. Tata Motors, India's biggest truckmaker, gained 5.5 per cent and NTPC Ltd., the largest power generator, advanced 1 per cent after the companies beat analysts' earnings estimates.
"Stocks may get pricier in the long term," said Vaibhav Sanghavi, a director at Ambit Capital Ltd. in Mumbai, who manages funds for wealthy individuals. "There is a concern on inflation. Interest rates are likely to go up in the next year."
The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell 15.59, or 0.1 per cent, to 15,359.45 at 12:56 p.m. in Mumbai, after swinging between gains and losses at least five times. Seventeen of the 30 Sensex companies have reported their results so far, with 14 beating analysts' expectations.
The gauge has rallied 88 per cent from its March 9 low, helped in part by the election victory of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress Party. India is the world's sixth-best performer during the period.
The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 0.2 per cent to 4,564.95. The BSE 200 Index added 0.1 per cent to 1,883.96.
ICICI Bank declined 1.8 per cent to 744.3 rupees. State Bank of India Ltd., the biggest lender, lost 1.3 per cent to 1,689.85 rupees. HDFC Bank Ltd., the third-largest, lost 1.2 per cent to 1,416 rupees.
The Reserve Bank of India held its reverse repurchase rate at 3.25 per cent, according to a statement in Mumbai today. The central bank raised its inflation forecast for the year to March 31 to "around 5 per cent" from an April estimate of 4 per cent, citing "elevated" food and commodity prices.
Tata Motors, maker of the world's smallest car, the Nano, and owner of Jaguar Land Rover Ltd., rose 5.5 per cent to 394.5 rupees, after it said net income rose 58 per cent to 5.14 billion rupees in the three months ended June. That exceeded the 994 million rupees median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts.
NTPC gained 1 per cent to 216.6 rupees after net income rose to 21.9 billion rupees in the three months ended June 30, from 17.3 billion rupees a year earlier. The median estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was a profit of 21.4 billion rupees.
Corporate earnings in India so far have been "promising," A.N. Sridhar, a fund manager at Sahara Asset Management Co. in Mumbai, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. "We're already seeing some positive signals, like the auto, cement and steel, and with the promises that the government has given for the infrastructure in the power sector, there are a lot of stocks that appear attractively valued."
India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday lowered the interest rates on some home loans and cut taxes for some industries, adding to four stimulus packages to revive a slowing economy. The government will provide an interest-rate subsidy of 1 per cent for loans of as much as 1 million rupees given for homes that don't cost more than 2 million rupees, Mukherjee said, announcing amendments to the budget that was approved by parliament.
DLF Ltd., India's biggest real estate developer, jumped 4.4 per cent to 429.55 rupees and Unitech Ltd., the No. 2, advanced 5.4 per cent to 92.75 rupees.
Overseas funds bought a net 10.5 billion rupees ($217.2 million) of Indian stocks on July 24, the Securities & Exchange Board of India said on its Web site, taking their total investment this year to 328.62 billion rupees, compared with net sales totaling 529.87 billion rupees for the whole of 2008.
ICICI Bank, the second-biggest bank, declined 1.8 per cent. India's central bank kept borrowing costs unchanged, signaling an end to its deepest round of interest-rate cuts on concern inflation will "creep up" from October. Tata Motors, India's biggest truckmaker, gained 5.5 per cent and NTPC Ltd., the largest power generator, advanced 1 per cent after the companies beat analysts' earnings estimates.
"Stocks may get pricier in the long term," said Vaibhav Sanghavi, a director at Ambit Capital Ltd. in Mumbai, who manages funds for wealthy individuals. "There is a concern on inflation. Interest rates are likely to go up in the next year."
The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell 15.59, or 0.1 per cent, to 15,359.45 at 12:56 p.m. in Mumbai, after swinging between gains and losses at least five times. Seventeen of the 30 Sensex companies have reported their results so far, with 14 beating analysts' expectations.
The gauge has rallied 88 per cent from its March 9 low, helped in part by the election victory of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress Party. India is the world's sixth-best performer during the period.
The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 0.2 per cent to 4,564.95. The BSE 200 Index added 0.1 per cent to 1,883.96.
ICICI Bank declined 1.8 per cent to 744.3 rupees. State Bank of India Ltd., the biggest lender, lost 1.3 per cent to 1,689.85 rupees. HDFC Bank Ltd., the third-largest, lost 1.2 per cent to 1,416 rupees.
The Reserve Bank of India held its reverse repurchase rate at 3.25 per cent, according to a statement in Mumbai today. The central bank raised its inflation forecast for the year to March 31 to "around 5 per cent" from an April estimate of 4 per cent, citing "elevated" food and commodity prices.
Tata Motors, maker of the world's smallest car, the Nano, and owner of Jaguar Land Rover Ltd., rose 5.5 per cent to 394.5 rupees, after it said net income rose 58 per cent to 5.14 billion rupees in the three months ended June. That exceeded the 994 million rupees median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts.
NTPC gained 1 per cent to 216.6 rupees after net income rose to 21.9 billion rupees in the three months ended June 30, from 17.3 billion rupees a year earlier. The median estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was a profit of 21.4 billion rupees.
Corporate earnings in India so far have been "promising," A.N. Sridhar, a fund manager at Sahara Asset Management Co. in Mumbai, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. "We're already seeing some positive signals, like the auto, cement and steel, and with the promises that the government has given for the infrastructure in the power sector, there are a lot of stocks that appear attractively valued."
India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday lowered the interest rates on some home loans and cut taxes for some industries, adding to four stimulus packages to revive a slowing economy. The government will provide an interest-rate subsidy of 1 per cent for loans of as much as 1 million rupees given for homes that don't cost more than 2 million rupees, Mukherjee said, announcing amendments to the budget that was approved by parliament.
DLF Ltd., India's biggest real estate developer, jumped 4.4 per cent to 429.55 rupees and Unitech Ltd., the No. 2, advanced 5.4 per cent to 92.75 rupees.
Overseas funds bought a net 10.5 billion rupees ($217.2 million) of Indian stocks on July 24, the Securities & Exchange Board of India said on its Web site, taking their total investment this year to 328.62 billion rupees, compared with net sales totaling 529.87 billion rupees for the whole of 2008.