Sensex erases gain and drops 0.1%

India's benchmark stock index erased gains, with the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, trading little changed at 18,618.20 in Mumbai. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, India's largest software services exporter, fell 2.3 per cent ahead of its quarterly report yesterday. Reliance Communications Ltd, the second-largest mobile-phone operator, fell 1.7 per cent. Meanwhile, India's ten-year bonds gained on speculation mounting threats to global economic growth will depress commodity prices, helping cool inflation. A government report yesterday showed the wholesale price index rose 9.68 per cent in June from a year earlier, compared with 9.06 per cent in May, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Oil prices fell 0.4 per cent to 97.67 per barrel, after Moody's Investors Service put the US under review for a possible debt-rating downgrade yesterday. India imports almost 80 per cent of its crude. "Concerns over growth globally may depress commodity prices," said Rajeev Radhakrishnan, a Mumbai-based money manager at SBI Funds Management Pvt. "However, the central bank may keep its anti-inflationary bias in the near term so bonds may not gain much." The yield on the 7.8 per cent government bonds due April 2021 fell two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 8.29 per cent. Three bomb blasts killed at least 17 people in Mumbai on Wednesday, the biggest attack on India's financial capital since a November 2008 terrorist rampage. "The incident won't influence bonds much," Radhakrishnan said. India's rupee strengthened for a second day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the US central bank is prepared to buy more government bonds, fanning concern the supply of dollars will increase. The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against those of six trading partners, declined 1.2 per cent on Wednesday after Moody's Investors Service put the US debt rating on review for a possible downgrade for the first time since 1995. From / Gulf News