Indian shares rise on boost from HDFC, financials

Simran Farms

07/01/2021 05:34

By Anuron Kumar Mitra
    BENGALURU, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Indian shares were boosted by
mortgage lender HDFC and financial stocks on Thursday, extending
a new year rally that has been powered by domestic vaccine
approvals and a surge in foreign fund inflows.
    By 0505 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index  .NSEI  rose
0.25% to 14,181.85 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex  .BSESN 
gained 0.2% to 48,268.16. 
    Both indexes had hit record highs in the first four trading
sessions of 2021, after adding about 15% last year in their
fifth annual gain. Foreign investors pumped more than $20
billion into Indian equities last year, according to Refinitiv
Eikon data. 
    "Enormous liquidity is creating a huge support for the
markets," said Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at
William O'Neil & Co in Mumbai. 
    "The incessant buying that you are seeing from foreign
institutional investors is just continuing."
    MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  rose 0.8%, as investors looked past violence in
Washington and bet on a large U.S. fiscal stimulus package after
Democrat victories in Senate runoffs in Georgia.  MKTS/GLOB 
    In Mumbai trading, HDFC Ltd  HDFC.NS  gained 2.2% and was
the top boost to the Nifty 50.
    The Nifty Bank Index  .NSEBANK  added 0.5%. Lenders such as
Yes Bank  YESB.NS , HDFC Bank  HDBK.NS  and Bandhan Bank
 BANH.NS  this week reported higher loans and advances as of
Dec. 31, 2020.
    In other stocks, poultry companies Venky's (India)  VENK.NS 
and Simran Farms  SIMF.BO  fell 2.9% and 5%, respectively, in
the wake of bird flu outbreaks in multiple states, according to
a government report.
    Sobha Ltd  SOBH.NS  rose 4.5% after the real estate company
said its third-quarter total sales value jumped 22.3% to 8.88
billion rupees.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2JG0TA
    The Nifty IT index  .NIFTYIT  fell 0.81%, with Tata
Consultancy Services  TCS.NS  shedding 1.4% ahead of its
third-quarter earnings report scheduled on Friday.

 (Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((AnuronKumar.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99863 58469;))