Mumbai: Indian stocks advanced, tracking Asian and European peers, as investors waited for European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to give details of his plan to stem the region’s debt crisis.
The BSE India Sensitive Index, or Sensex, added 0.2 per cent to 17,354.51, according to preliminary closing prices at 3:30pm in Mumbai. Infosys Ltd, the second-largest software developer by value, rallied the most since October, leading gains among peers. Tata Motors Ltd, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, climbed 2 per cent.
Draghi will propose unlimited buying of government debt, while refraining from a public cap on yields, according to two central bank officials briefed on the plan before the bank’s meet today. The European Union, India’s biggest trading partner, took in 17 per cent of the nation’s exports in the six months ended September 2011, government data show.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 0.7 per cent in London. The measure has surged 14 per cent from this year’s low on June 4 as Draghi pledged to do everything possible to preserve the euro. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.6 per cent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose for the first time in six days.
The Sensex has risen 12 per cent this year, helped by the highest foreign flows among 10 Asian markets excluding China tracked by Bloomberg. Overseas funds bought a net $54.5 million of stocks on Sept. 4, taking their investment this year to $12.3 billion, data from the market regulator show.
