BENGALURU, July 7 (Reuters) - Indian shares touched a near
four-week high on Thursday as metal and financial companies
gained, with fears of imported inflation easing amid a decline
in crude prices this week.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.89% to 16,132, while
the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.8% to 54,178.46.
Brent crude futures have fallen more than 9% this week as
fears of a potential global recession have stoked concerns about
oil demand.
India, the world's third-largest importer, stands to benefit
from the drop in prices which could bring down inflation
sharply, analysts said.
"Valuations have become slightly more comfortable in India.
Macro data points coming in are strong and crude prices have
fallen considerably, which is a huge positive for the country,"
said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal
Financial Services.
The Nifty metals index, which fell over 12.6% in
June, rose 3.8% on Thursday. The Nifty bank index
gained 1.7%, with many banks posting strong quarterly updates.
Analysts also said selling from foreign investors reduced
this week compared to the week before, besides seeing some
inflows, helping Indian markets stabilize.
Foreign investors bought Indian shares worth $270 million on
Wednesday. They have sold a net $273 million in Indian equities
so far this week, compared with $517 million in net disposal
last week, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Among individual stocks, jeweller Titan surged as
much as 7.9% after its first-quarter sales spiked 205%.
Kalyan Jewellers India rose as much as 6.2% on
strong sales data for the June quarter.
Some slowdown in sales and demand was expected from the June
quarter, but quarterly reports from the consumption-driven space
are pointing to consistent strong demand, Khemka said.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman and Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)