Indian stocks close at record levels as banks, metals jump
BENGALURU - Indian shares rose for the seventh straight session to close at an all-time high on Monday helped by gains in public sector banks, while metals and energy stocks surged on the back of a rise in commodity prices.
The NSE Nifty 50 index closed up 0.76% at 18,477.05, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.76% to 61,762.86.
The Nifty Metals index surged 3.9%, led by gains of more than 10% in National Aluminium Co, Vedanta, Hindustan Copper and Hindustan Zinc, as global metal prices spiked.
The Nifty Energy index rose 1.5% after crude prices hit their highest in years. [O/R]
The Nifty Bank index gained 0.80%, while the public sector bank index surged 3.98%, rising for a seventh straight session.
Shares of PNB Housing Finance Ltd fell 5% to their lowest since early June after the mortgage lender scrapped a fund-raising deal with a group of investors, led by private-equity firm Carlyle Group.
Real estate developer Indiabulls Real Estate rose as much as 13.4% after it reported a quarterly net profit compared with a loss a year earlier.
Shares of Tata Power rose as much as 19% after a report last week said the power generation company was in talks with pension and sovereign fund managers to raise about $500 million, before a planned IPO by its renewable energy unit.
Investors are now looking to updates from industries after state-run Coal India temporarily stopped auctioning coal to non-power customers and reduced contracted supplies, potentially hurting companies in other industries as India battles one of its worst power supply deficits in years.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)