Riding the wave of solid profits and an uptick in business deals among its top-tier firms, Indian stocks bounced back on Wednesday, leaving their Asian counterparts eating their dust ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s impending decision about interest rates.
On the bright side, both the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex 30 took a 0.7% leap forward, clocking in at 19,810.45 and $66,841.01 points respectively around midnight ET. It’s like they’re back on track, edging closer to their record-breaking numbers from earlier in the month.
What’s the deal, you ask? Well, much of the credit goes to the industrial bigwig, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (NS:LART). They stole the show, hiking up 3.7% to an all-time high, thanks to their impressive June quarter results. The cherry on top? The company’s decision to dole out a special dividend and roll out an INR 10,000 crore buyback. It’s safe to say they’ve been the belle of the ball, outshining all others on both Indian indexes.
And they weren’t alone. Tata Motors Ltd (NS:TAMO) put the pedal to the metal, escalating 1.3% after outdoing their quarterly earnings forecast, largely due to increased margins in their passenger vehicles and their luxury division, Jaguar Land Rover.
The biggest kahuna in India’s market, Reliance Industries Ltd (NS:RELI), didn’t want to miss out on the party. They experienced a 2% growth on Wednesday after entering into a joint venture with Canada’s Brookfield Infrastructure (NYSE:BIPC) and Digital Realty (NYSE:DLR) to set up data centers. To top it off, rumors were flying about the Qatar sovereign fund eyeing a stake in Reliance’s retail division.
Indian stocks’ rise comes on the heels of a rather rough patch, with significant profit booking observed over the prior three days. But, silver linings and all, right? The market optimism fueled by stellar earnings and a rosy outlook for the Indian economy had already propelled the stocks to stratospheric highs in July.
Now, market gurus are whispering about a potential resurgence. After a three-day breather, the stocks might be gearing up for another sprint.
In comparison, Indian stocks left their broader Asian colleagues in the dust on Wednesday. The looming decision from the US Federal Reserve got investors in a tizzy, making them pull back on the reins. The expectation? A 25 basis point uptick in the rates from the US central bank, along with hints about the trajectory of future rate hikes.
Yes, it was quite a day. Indian stocks, it seems, are always ready to surprise us.
