By Sethuraman N R
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares rose to hit a fresh near-10-month high on Friday, boosted by a rally in IT companies and banks as easing U.S. inflation fuelled hopes that the aggressive Federal Reserve rate stance might begin to ease.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 1.4% to 18,287 as of 0508 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 1.5% to 61,519.96. Both the indexes are heading to log their fourth straight weekly gain and are up nearly 1% so far this week.
All three major U.S. stock indexes notched their biggest one-day percentage gains in about two-and-a-half years in a broad, robust rally as the Labor Department’s data showed the annual consumer price index number below 8% for the first time in eight months. [.N]
“We are seeing a relief rally in the IT stocks following Nasdaq’s overnight jump. Inflation is cooling off but it is still above the tolerance level. Central bank policy actions will be more data dependent, going forward,” said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president, research, at SMC Global Securities.
The Nifty IT index surged 3.9% on the back of a 7.4% jump in Nasdaq overnight. The bank Nifty index gained as much as 1.5% to hit another record high on the back of strong earnings from lenders amid higher credit growth and improved asset quality.
India will report its October inflation number next week.
In domestic earnings, Nifty component Mahindra and Mahindra, top insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India, battery maker Exide Industries, and engineering company Bharat Heavy Electricals will be among the scores of companies reporting quarterly numbers.
Shares of Zomato jumped 13% after the Indian food delivery firm on Thursday reported a narrower loss for the second quarter.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Janane Venkatraman)
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