By Kenan Machado
MUMBAI--Indian shares closed unchanged on Wednesday as investors
booked profits after a recent bullish view on India by investment
bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) pushed up prices.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex closed
at 21,832.86 points, little changed from Tuesday. The National
Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty index closed up 0.11% at 6524.05
points.
The major gainers in the Sensex included Housing Development
Finance Corp. Ltd. (500010.BY) and Axis Bank Ltd. (532215.BY). They
closed up 1.8% and 2.8% respectively. ITC Ltd. (500875.BY) closed
1.0% higher while Reliance Industries Ltd. (500325.BY), which has
seen sustained demand in the last few sessions, rose 0.8%.
Among the losers, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (532540.BY),
India's largest software exporter, closed down 3.8% at 2040.95
rupees. The losses came after the company indicated in an analyst
call that revenue growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 could
be weaker than the previous quarter.
Investor sentiment in India has improved in recent sessions
after Goldman Sachs said the upcoming parliamentary elections
starting April could have a significant impact on the progress of
economic reforms. "Our analysis of past election moves, valuation
and flows suggests India may have more room for a pre-election
rally than Indonesia," the investment bank said.
Wider gains in Asian stocks on easing tensions in Ukraine have
also supported Indian markets.
-Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires