Wednesday July 23, 11:14 AM
Indian shares rally after govt win, banks rise |
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MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian shares rose as much as 4.7 percent on Wednesday to their highest in more than a month, led by financials, as a victory for the government in a confidence vote boosted hopes for revival of stalled economic reforms.
"The market never likes uncertainty, so in that sense the end of the political uncertainty has brought in a feel good factor," said Arun Kejriwal, strategist at research firm KRIS.
"The government now has an opportunity to push through some reforms but whether they will actually be able to do it, I am not too sure."
After the ruling coalition won the confidence vote late on Tuesday, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the government would work with other parties to push reforms, and senior officials said foreign investment in private banks and insurance firms were on the agenda.
This boosted shares in No. 2 lender ICICI Bank as much as 11 percent to 734 rupees, while the bank index gained 7.6 percent.
By 10:54 a.m., the 30-share main index, was up 3.86 percent, or 545.81 points, at 14,650.01.
The government's victory also cleared the way for a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, which was opposed by its left allies and resulted in the confidence vote.
Power equipment makers such as Bharat Heavy Electricals and Larsen & Toubro and utilities rose on expectation the U.S. tie-up would bring in orders for nuclear power plants.
In the broader market, 1,562 gainers swamped 224 losers on volume of 66 million shares. The BSE index had gained 12.2 percent in the previous four sessions, but is down 30.5 percent in 2008.
Bharat Heavy was up 8.6 percent at 1,735.10 rupees and Larsen & Toubro rose 4.7 percent to 2,693 rupees.
Reliance Power firmed 8.2 percent to 154.45 rupees, Tata Power gained 5.8 percent to 1,176 rupees and state-run NTPC added 4.3 percent to 193 rupees.
The 50-share NSE index rose 3.9 percent to 4,407.20 points.
Elsewhere in the region, Karachi's 100-share index rose 1.96 percent to 10,993.54 points and Colombo's All share index firmed 0.24 percent to 2,344.18.
STOCKS ON THE MOVE
* Sesa Goa Ltd rose 7.2 percent to 3,086 rupees, after the top private-sector iron ore exporter's quarterly profit jumped more than five times to 6.4 billion rupees, beating analysts' forecasts of 4.1 billion rupees.
* Siemens Ltd gained 6.2 percent to 529.90 rupees, after the power equipment and services firm's net profit for the June quarter more than doubled to 1.69 billion rupees and it reported more new orders.
MAIN TOP 3 BY VOLUME
* Reliance Natural Resources Ltd on 6 million shares
* IFCI Ltd on 4 million shares
* Reliance Petroleum Ltd on 3 million shares
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