By Ritu,
India stocks advanced, extending gains for a second day on the expectation that the government’s plans to spend big will haul the country out of its economic woes.
The S&P BSE Sensex 50 climbed 0.3% to 41,419.41 at 9:39 a.m. in Mumbai. The Nifty 50 Index advanced by a similar magnitude.
The Sensex has had a positive January in six out of the last 10 years. The benchmark stock gauge rose 14% in 2019 even as the economy grew at its slowest pace in more than six years, suggesting that investors have largely priced in a slowdown.
As activity picks up again across markets globally, focus will shift to the companies and sectors that will benefit from fiscal spending and next month’s budget presentation.
While foreign institutional investors will be reshuffling their portfolios ahead of the budget, “no one is going to take considerable money off the table” as they weigh their options.