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India stock futures climb as benchmarks near record highs
SGX Nifty 50 futures for November delivery gained 1.3% as of 10:17 a.m. in Singapore. The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Index on Friday capped their best week since June and are both close to record highs set in January.
Indian stock futures rose, pointing to gains in local benchmarks, after Democrat Joe Biden was declared the winner in the US election.
SGX Nifty 50 futures for November delivery gained 1.3% as of 10:17 a.m. in Singapore. The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Index on Friday capped their best week since June and are both close to record highs set in January.
Biden passed the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed to capture the presidency and media networks at the weekend declared him victorious. President Donald Trump is weighing legal challenges and has so far refused to concede.
Indian equities could continue to rally “on account of more clarity on US election results,” said Abhimanyu Sofat, head of research at IIFL Securities Ltd.
Locally, investors will now turn their focus to elections in the eastern state of Bihar, where exit polls show Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party falling short of a majority.
“Due to the duration of the regime, even a negative verdict may not be taken as a big setback” to Modi’s government, Sofat said.
Ballots will be counted on Tuesday in the first test of Modi’s popularity since the pandemic swept the nation of 1.3 billion, which now has the world’s second-largest infection tally with 8.5 million coronavirus cases.
As earnings continue, most of the Nifty 50-member companies that have announced results so far have beaten or matched estimates.
