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Indian shares rise but inflation still a worry
Indian shares rose 1.4 per cent on Thursday, powered by gains in Reliance Industries, but investors were circumspect on expectation annual inflation rate would stay in double digits for some weeks.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:07 June 27, 2008
Bangalore: Indian shares rose 1.4 per cent on Thursday, powered by gains in Reliance Industries, but investors were circumspect on expectation annual inflation rate would stay in double digits for some weeks.
Annual inflation at mid-June is expected at 11.18 per cent, the highest in 13 years, a Reuters poll showed.
Top listed firm Reliance, which has the heaviest weighting in the main index, rose 4.9 per cent to Rs2,239.25, its highest close in a week, after the government said the company was expected to start pumping gas from its D-6 field by September.
The oil ministry said in a statement on Wednesday Reliance's field in Krishna Godavari basin is expected to pump 25 million metric standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) by September and ramp it up to 40 mmscmd by March.
The main 30-share BSE index ended up 1.42 per cent, or 201.75 points, at 14,421.82, with 18 components in the positive zone.
"The short-term trend should be good and the market seems to have found the bottom, but the medium to long-term outlook continues to be uncertain," said D.D. Sharma, vice-president at Anand Rathi Securities.
In the broader market, 1,479 gainers led 1,144 losers on volume of 300 million shares.
Arun Kejriwal, strategist at research firm KRIS, said the gains in the market was a result of players scrambling to square off short positions on the last day of monthly derivatives contracts because a rollover was unviable.
The July contracts were cheaper than June, he said.
Most technology shares nudged higher after the US Federal Reserve kept rates steady, bolstering expectation technology spending would remain firm. Indian software exporters get a majority of their revenue from US clients.
Infosys Technologies, the second-largest software exporter, rose 1.9 per cent to Rs1,781.85 and third-ranked Wipro surged 5.1 per cent to Rs479.95.
Tata Steel, the world's sixth largest steelmaker, gained 1.9 per cent to 757.10 rupees ahead of its results.
The broader 50-share NSE index rose 1.49 per cent to 4,315.85.
Pakistan
Pakistani shares ended flat yesterday as investors booked profits on higher levels after gaining over 10 per cent in the previous two trading sessions.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-shares rose 0.18 per cent, to 21.79 points, to 12,452.08 on thin turnover of 120 million shares. Losers beat gainers 205 to 100.
The free-float KSE-30 share index gained 0.68 per cent to 14,593.30 points.
"We saw profit-taking at higher levels," said Tauseef Ladak, a dealer at Taurus Securities Ltd.
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