A man looks at a screen showing budget news, on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo Obtaining licensing rights
BENGALURU, Sept. 1 (Reuters) – Indian stocks rose on Friday and closed higher this week, ending a five-week losing streak, after data showed the economy grew at the fastest pace in a year in the first quarter, which could support foreign currencies. Investor flows.
The Nifty 50 Index (.NSEI) rose 0.94% to close at 19,435.30, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) settled 0.86% higher at 65,387.16.
They gained 0.88% and 0.77% respectively during the week after posting losses in each of the past five weeks since reaching record levels on July 20.
India’s economy grew by 7.8% year-on-year in the April-June period, data showed, while concerns over dry weather conditions persisted. Factory activity also grew at the fastest pace in three months, reaching 58.6 in August.
“Resilient growth would attract stability in outflows, with domestic institutional investors welcoming, and this will act as a breather for the Indian markets at the moment,” said Dhawal Ghanshyam Dhanani, Fund Manager at SAMCO Mutual Fund.
Foreign inflows fell to a four-month low of 122.52 billion rupees ($1.48 billion) in August.
Shares of the most locally focused small caps (.NIFSMCP100) and midcaps (.NIFMDCP100) rose 1.17% and 0.84%, respectively.
They are up just over 27% and 25%, respectively, so far this year, supported by retail flows, while the Nifty index rose 7.35%, weighed down by weaker global signals.
Among individual stocks, record monthly sales of Maruti Suzuki (MRTI.NS) boosted the stock 3.27% to an all-time high and lifted auto stock (.NIFTYAUTO) 1.65%.
Shares of Network 18 Media & Investments (NEFI.NS) and TV18 Broadcast (TVEB.NS) jumped 1.17% and 2.08%, respectively, after Viacom18 won the broadcast rights to bilateral matches of the Indian cricket team for five years. Viacom18 is a joint venture between billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) unit – the Network18 group – and Paramount Global.
Investors are awaiting the US jobs report later in the day. Rising unemployment may allow the Federal Reserve to pause interest rate hikes at its September meeting.
($1 = 82.6800 Indian Rupees)
(Reporting by Bharat Rajeswaran and Manvi Pant in Bengaluru – Preparing by Mohammed for the Arabic Bulletin) Editing by Savio D’Souza
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