(MENAFN- Gulf Times) India's benchmark stock index climbed to a record, with HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries contributing most to the advance.
The S & P BSE Sensex Index added 0.7% to 32,245.87 points in Mumbai as both Reliance and HDFC Bank surged to an all-time high. Software exporter Wipro rose 1.9%, adding to its biggest rally in four years on Friday, after the company said it plans to buy back shares. Bharti Airtel climbed 2.1%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index came within a whisker of hitting 10,000, closing the day at 9,966.4, an all-time high.
Foreign inflows have picked up pace as emerging markets continue to benefit from the US Federal Reserve's paced rate increases, while Indian savers are shifting more money to financial assets as prices of gold and property have cooled after the government's ban on high-value currency notes. Indian shares have hit multiple records this year amid optimism about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies, with the economy expanding at about seven times the pace of Japan's.
'It is the liquidity that is driving the market, said Devam Modi, research director at Equirus Securities. 'India's growth prospects and government efforts to improve fundamentals provides it an upside for investment. Inflows both domestic and foreign flows remain strong, which has stretched valuations. However, we aren't in bubble territory.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, the wireless unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's retail-to-refining conglomerate will offer a data-enabled feature phone for Rs1,500 ($23) starting August 15, he told shareholders in Mumbai on Friday. The handset, or JioPhone, will come with tariff plans as low as Rs23 for two days or Rs153 monthly. The unit will also start giving separate earnings statement from the September quarter along with the parent's results.
'The company has disrupted again by launch of 4G feature phone ‘Jio' aimed to capture the feature phone market, Nitin Tiwari, analyst at Antique Stock Broking wrote in a note. 'We expect launch of feature phones to increase Jio's subscriber base faster than estimated earlier.
HDFC Bank surged after the company's April-June net income came in line with analyst estimated. The bank's head Aditya Puri said the long-term valuations for the financial industry are set to improve on the back of government's efforts to deal with bad loans.
Meanwhile the rupee yesterday pared all the losses and closed little changed against the US dollar ahead of the outcome of US Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow.
The rupee closed at 64.34 a dollar, down 0.03% from its Friday's close of 64.32. The rupee opened at 64.41 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.31 and 64.46 respectively.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.414%, compared to its previous close of 6.436%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.58%, while foreign investors bought $8.74bn and $16.43bn in local equity and debt markets, respectively.
Asian currencies were trading higher. South Korean won was up 0.38%, Taiwan dollar 0.32%, Japanese yen 0.27%, China renminbi 0.25%, Singapore dollar 0.13%, China Offshore 0.13%, Malaysian ringgit 0.1%, Thai Baht 0.09%, Hong Kong dollar 0.05%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency's strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.01, up 0.16% from its previous close of 93.858.
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