By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) – India’s benchmark indexes rose on Monday, led by heavyweights HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries, as well as metal stocks, and in line with regional peers on the back of lower-than-expected U.S. inflation data.
The Nifty 50 climbed 0.7% to 23,753.45 points, while the BSE Sensex gained 0.64% to 78,540.17, with both benchmarks snapping a five-session losing streak.
The Nifty and Sensex dropped about 5% last week, the worst since June 2022, hurt by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s projection of two rate reductions in 2025 compared to four rate cuts earlier and sustained foreign selling amounting to $1.86 billion.
On the day, twelve of 13 major sectors advanced. Financials added 0.8%, led by HDFC Bank’s 1.7% gain.
The second-heaviest stock on the Nifty and Sensex, Reliance Industries, rose 1.4%.
Last week’s drop in benchmarks has made valuations of large cap stocks cheaper and spurred some buying interest as investors seek safety, said two analysts.
“We have seen over the last two years that whenever the Nifty drops below the 200-day moving average, like it did on Friday, markets have been able to stage an immediate bounce back, helped by dip buying,” said Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities.
Metal stocks rose 0.9% after India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies initiated a safeguard probe into imports of non-alloy and alloy steel flat products.
Tata Steel and JSW Steel could benefit the most from a potential imposition of a safeguard duty, said Investec. Tata Steel advanced 0.7% and JSW Steel gained 2.2%.
The broader, more domestically-focussed smallcaps shed 0.1%, while midcaps rose 0.3%.
Other Asian shares rallied on the day after data on Friday showed the U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% in November, following October’s 0.2% rise.[MKTS/GLOB]
Among individual stocks, cigarette maker ITC rose 2.1% after the finance minister said there was no decision by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council on changing rates for tobacco. ITC led consumer stocks 1% higher.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sumana Nandy)
