Indian shares extended gains to a second straight session on Friday with Reliance Industries climbing to a record high, while a fall in Axis Bank following its March-quarter results capped the rise in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.
The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) was up 0.19% at 17,278.60, as of 0440 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.23% to 57,651.44. The indexes rose over 0.5% early on Friday, before giving up some gains.
Upbeat U.S. tech earnings on Thursday helped stocks across the globe clock gains with Indian benchmark indexes rising more than 1%.
Both the indexes, however, were likely to post losses of more than 1% in April.
Asian shares inched higher on Friday, although investor sentiment remained fragile amid fears about global economic growth and looming U.S. Fed rate hikes.
“We are seeing an extension of the recovery seen in the previous session … Ukraine war situation, pace of interest rate hikes, inflationary, high commodity prices and limited purchasing power of consumers will continue to mount pressure and keep markets rangebound and volatile,” said KK Mittal, investment adviser at Venus India.
Conglomerate Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) extended gains to a fourth session, rising 1.3% to scale a record high of 2,856.15 rupees.
Sun Pharmaceutical (SUN.NS) rose 5% to a near seven-year high and was the top percentage gainer on the Nifty 50 index, and pushed Nifty’s Pharma sub-index (.NIPHARM) 2% higher.
Varroc Engineering (VARE.NS) soared 20% to its highest since January 2020 after the auto components’ maker said it would divest its 4-wheeler lighting systems operations in the Americas and Europe.
Varun Beverages (VARB.NS) jumped 8.7% to a record high after its quarterly net profit rose.
Axis Bank (AXBK.NS), which reported its March-quarter results on Thursday evening, fell 5.2% to a one-month low to cap the gains on the Nifty 50 index.
Wipro (WIPR.NS), which rose as much as 1.1%, gave up gains to trade 1.3% lower while Maruti Suzuki India (MRTI.NS) was flat ahead of its March-quarter results.
Source By: Reuters