Indian shares gain over 1% after 7 days of falls

Friday, 9 February 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Indian shares rose more than 1% on Thursday after seven consecutive sessions of declines, as market heavyweights such as Infosys recovered and as drug maker Cipla gained on solid earnings.

The BSE and the NSE indexes shed nearly 6% each in the previous seven sessions, matching a losing streak of the same duration in September.

Thursday’s gains came even as Asian shares flirted with six-week lows. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed as US bond yields crept up towards four-year highs.

Analysts said they expected global markets to stabilise, but said caution would remain in India amid continued worries that accelerating inflation would force the Reserve Bank of India to raise interest rates.

The RBI on Wednesday held rates steady and kept its policy stance at “neutral”, with analysts saying the central bank’s future action would depend on inflation.

“Market is into a trading zone with a broad-based recovery. The worst, as far as downside concerns and short-selling, is more or less done. But at the same time, the markets are not in clear waters yet with concerns over inflation,” said Dharmesh Kant, an independent market expert.

The broader NSE index was up 1.21% at 10,603.85 as of 0541 GMT, while the benchmark BSE index was 1.31% higher at 34,529.79.

Pharma and realty stocks gained with the Nifty Pharma index and the Nifty Realty index climbing over 2.5% each.

Shares of Cipla surged as much as 6.85% after the country’s fourth-largest drugmaker by revenue reported a 7% jump in quarterly profit on Wednesday.

IT service exporters Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. climbed over 3% and 2%, respectively.