Bloomberg/Mumbai


Indian stocks fell for the first time in four days as a deepening slump in oil outweighed optimism the central bank would ease

monetary policy after inflation stayed below its target for a third straight month.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp, India’s largest state explorer, dropped the most in a week as crude prices fell below $45 a barrel.

Reliance Industries Ltd, owner of the world’s largest refining complex, fell for a second day. Hindustan Unilever Ltd ended a

six-day rally after bearish bets on the nation’s biggest household products maker climbed to a two-month high.
The S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.6% to 27,425.73 at the close, erasing an intraday gain of 0.3%. Foreigners are selling developing-

nations stocks to make up for declines in commodities sparked by oil’s rout, according to KR Choksey Shares & Securities Pvt.

Global funds have sold $353mn of local shares since January 1 after investing $16bn in 2014.
“Global funds are being forced to sell their holding in other high-performance asset classes,” Deven Choksey, managing director

at KR Choksey, said by phone yesterday. “Today’s fall is led by the oil heavyweights because they will have inventory losses on

their books.”
Indian stocks and bonds may get $18bn to $20bn in 2015, versus last year’s inflows of $42.5bn, according to Credit Suisse Group

AG. The Sensex rallied 30% in 2014, the most among the world’s 20 biggest markets after China.
Oil & Natural Gas lost 2.2%, while Gail India Ltd, the largest natural-gas supplier, fell 0.5%. Oil India Ltd, the second-biggest

explorer, slid 2.8%. Reliance Industries dropped 0.8%.
Hindustan Unilever dropped 1.3%, ending a six-day, 19% rally. The stock has rallied 16% this month, set for the best January

performance since 1999, after eight brokerages including Credit Suisse Group AG upgraded the stock last week, citing the slump in

raw-material costs. The shares trade at 43 times 12-month estimated profits, the highest among the 50 companies in the CNX Nifty

gauge.
The consumer-price index gained 5% in December from a year earlier, less than the 5.35% climb forecast in a Bloomberg survey,

data showed after market hours on Monday.
“With inflation remaining within containable levels, we are going to see monetary easing, which corporate India needs badly,”

Medha Samant, Asian equities investment director at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, told Bloomberg TV yesterday.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan maintained the benchmark rate for a fifth straight meeting on Dec. 2 after Finance Minister Arun

Jaitley called for lower funding costs. Rajan said on the day that a change in monetary policy stance is likely in early 2015

should improvements in inflation health continue. The next policy review is due on February 3.
India, which imports about 80% of its oil, has seen its inflation outlook weaken after Brent slid 48% last year, the most since

2008.