Templeton Buys in Longest Sovereign Gain Since ’02

Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt. and Nomura Asset Management Co. predict rupee bonds will extend the longest run of gains in more than a decade as inflation below 5 percent adds room for interest-rate cuts.

Templeton raised holdings of local sovereign debt in its Income Builder Fund as the 10-year yield slid 72 basis points since March 31 to 7.24 percent, set for a sixth quarterly drop. Similar rates in China fell 13 basis points. Nomura Asset, which handed yen-based investors a 36 percent gain from its India Bond Fund in the year through April, says easing price pressures will allow India to add to the most aggressive monetary easing since