India Stocks Climb Amid Signs of Sustained Buying by Foreigners

(Bloomberg) -- India stocks rose as foreign inflows continued to sustain gains and hopes grew for a coronavirus vaccine.

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.3% to 45,195.14 as of 10 a.m. in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by a similar magnitude. Both gauges were on course for new highs after Friday saw them notch their longest stretch of weekly gains since July.

Foreign net equity purchases of $17.1 billion this year through Dec. 3 are the most since 2013 as global funds chase gains on the back of strong corporate profits and optimism over an economic recovery.

“The momentum in foreign buying continues to drive the market higher, and there are no negative triggers to stall the rally,” said Umesh Mehta, head of research at Mumbai-based Samco Securities Ltd.

The Serum Institute of India and Pfizer India have applied to the nation’s drug regulator seeking an emergency-use authorization for their respective Covid-19 vaccines, the Press Trust of India reported over the weekend. The U.K. will become the first western country to deploy a Covid-19 vaccine after regulators approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot last week.

The rupee was little changed at 73.7725 per U.S. dollar, while the yield on 10-year government bonds rose one basis point to 5.91%.

The Numbers

• Seventeen of 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. rose, led by a gauge of telecom companies
• ICICI Bank Ltd. contributed the most to the Sensex advance, increasing 1.4%, while Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd. had the largest gain, rising 2.1

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