State-owned firms lead India’s benchmark indexes higher
India’s benchmark indexes advanced on Thursday, as state-owned companies gained on expectations of a government spending boost in the upcoming union budget, overshadowing a drop in IT stocks and Tata Motors. The Nifty 50 settled 0.37% higher at 23,249.5, while the BSE Sensex added 0.3% to 76,759.81, marking their third straight session of gains. However, the Nifty is down 11.5% from the record-high level hit on Sept. 27, hurt by a moderation in economic and corporate earnings growth. The three-session rally in the benchmarks is aided by “attractive valuations” in large-cap stocks after the recent correction, offering a good margin of safety from a long-term perspective, said Gaurav Bhandari, chief executive officer at Monarch Networth Capital. Nine of the 13 major sectors advanced on the day. State-owned companies gained about 2%, with analysts attributing the rise to expectations of government focus on public spending and infrastructure in the budget announcement on Saturday. The second heaviest stock on the benchmark indexes, Reliance Industries rose 1.4%.