Reliance leads rise in Indian shares; growth slowdown factored in

Indian shares closed higher on Monday, led by gains in heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, as the recent decline presented “attractive buying opportunities”, while analysts said investors had already accounted for slowing economic growth.

The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.6% to 24,276.05, while the BSE Sensex gained 0.56% to 80,248.08. They firmed their gains mostly in the second half of the day after opening about 0.5% lower.

Indian shares continued their recovery and added to the gains from the last two weeks after slipping into correction territory – a 10% drop from record highs – in early November.

“The correction in markets has created attractive buying opportunities, which is presenting active fund managers chances to add quality stocks,” said Alekh Yadav, head of investment products at Sanctum Wealth.

“Many high-quality stocks have seen significantly larger correction than benchmarks, leading to buying opportunities,” Yadav said.

Reliance Industries, the second-heaviest Nifty stock, rose 1.3% on the day and has gained about 3% in the last two sessions.

Reliance, pharma stocks lead Indian shares’ rebound to log weekly gains

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate’s stock shed about 14.4% in the last three months, compared to a 4.4% drop in the Nifty.

Ultratech Cement rose 4%, the most on the Nifty, after Jefferies called it its top pick among large-cap cement companies.

India’s economic growth decelerated more than anticipated in the third quarter, data on Friday showed, heightening the pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to lower interest rates.

However, economists expect the RBI to hold rates at its meeting on Dec. 6.

While the growth data weighed on markets in early trade, analysts said that the deceleration was already factored in after the disappointing September quarter corporate earnings.

The broader, more domestically focused small-cap and mid-cap indexes rose about 1% on the day, outperforming the benchmarks.

Dixon Technologies jumped 6% after entering into a deal to mass-produce Google Pixel smartphones.