Indian shares rose to a new high, led by a rally in technology stocks and software exporters, after a regulator tightened rules for offshore derivatives and banned so-called “naked” bets.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.6 percent to 31,557.91, a record, as of 10:15 a.m. local time. NSE Nifty 50 Index prices weren’t updating as National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. halted trading because of a technical problem.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India late Friday banned holders of offshore derivatives tied to the nation’s equities from taking unhedged exposure and said existing bets must be liquidated by the end of 2020 or by the date of maturity of the instrument.
“The market rally indicates two things: one is that some investors are covering their short positions after the regulator’s directives and second is the bullish trend, that’s willing to ignore the negatives,” said Sushant Kumar, a fund manager at RAAY Global Investments Pvt. in Mumbai.
Foreign and domestic funds have purchased more than $14 billion of Indian shares in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s helped push the Sensex to multiple records this year and made it the best-performing major market index in Asia.
The S&P BSE MidCap Index gained 0.4 percent, while the S&P BSE Small Cap Index rose 0.6 percent to a record. Twelve of the 13 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by the S&P BSE Communication Technology Index and the S&P BSE Information Technology Index, which gained 1.6 percent each.
Summary
- Fortis Healthcare Ltd. gains 3% as RBI removes shares from overseas investment curb list and ICICI Securities upgrades to buy
- IDFC Ltd. drops 3.3% after announcing plans to merge businesses with Shriram Capital Ltd.; Shriram Transport Finance Co. -4.8%, Shriram City Union Finance Ltd. -4.3%
- NOTE: IDFC-Shriram Deal May Be Negative for Shareholders: Street Wrap
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. gains 2% after it reaches settlement in antitrust litigation in U.S. court
- Tata Motors Ltd. climbs 2.1% after Jaguar Land Rover retail vehicle sales rise 11% in June
To contact the reporter on this story: Ameya Karve in Mumbai at akarve@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Kurt Schussler, Vivek Shankar
©2017 Bloomberg L.P.
