Indian Bourse Boosts System as Volumes Rise, Angel Broking Says

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- National Stock Exchange of India’s upgraded system, tested during a special trading session over the weekend, will help the bourse cope with rising volume and competition, India’s biggest brokerage by branch network said.

The nation’s stocks gained for the first time in three days on Feb. 6 during the 90-minute trading session to test the Indian bourse’s enhanced software. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index or Sensex climbed 0.8 percent to 15,915.65 after a 4.3 percent two-day slide.

“They are improving their infrastructure to the next level,” said Vinay Agrawal, executive director of equities broking at Angel Broking Ltd. in Mumbai, ranked by Dun & Bradstreet as the brokerage with the biggest distribution network in India. “As the volumes are growing, the exchanges also need to upgrade their infrastructure.”

Foreign fund flows into India’s stock market rose to $17.5 billion in 2009, close to a record set two years ago, as the biggest rally in 18 years lured foreign investors. National Exchange, the bigger of the country’s two bourses, is also upgrading ahead of more competition.

MCX Stock Exchange Ltd., which has partnered London’s FTSE Group, is awaiting regulatory approval to begin trading.

National Exchange and the smaller Bombay Stock Exchange started trading 55 minutes earlier this year at 9 a.m. to lure derivatives traders in Singapore and Hong Kong. The Bombay exchange also followed its rival in conducting a special trading session over the weekend.

Trading volume is expected to increase, driving the Sensex to rise as much as 30 percent this year as consumer spending in the world’s second-most populous nation boosts company earnings, EM Capital Management LLC said last month.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said Jan. 29 the nation’s economic growth could “gain momentum” over the next year. India’s $1.2 trillion economy, Asia’s third largest, will expand 7.5 percent in the 12 months through March 31, more than an October forecast of 6 percent, “with an upward bias,” he also said.