The Sensex and Nifty edged up on Friday, heading for a third straight weekly gain, as lenders rebounded from disappointment over the central bank's decision to hold rates, while the sentiment also got a boost after Asian shares hit an 18-month peak.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose to its highest since July 2015, on upbeat Chinese trade data and US President Donald Trump's announcement of tax incentives to help businesses.
At 11.55 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 35.34 points or 0.12 per cent at 28,365.04 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 20.45 points or 0.23 per cent at 8,798.85.
Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index was up 0.76 per cent, IT 0.68 per cent, banking 0.59 per cent and capital goods 0.51 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index fell the most by 0.49 per cent, followed by healthcare 0.45 per cent, metal 0.26 per cent and FMCG 0.24 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Adani Ports (+2.23%), SBI (+1.14%), Axis Bank (+0.99%), NTPC (+0.98%) and TCS (+0.85%), while the major losers were Lupin (-1.31%), Cipla (-1.11%), ITC (-1.08%), Tata Motors (-0.78%) and Dr Reddy's (-0.68%).
The BSE index has gained 0.4 per cent so far this week and the NSE index has added 0.6 per cent, on hopes of an improving economy despite disappointment about the Reserve Bank of India's decision on Wednesday to keep the policy rate on hold and the unexpected change in stance to “neutral” from “accommodative".
Brokers said building up of positions by participants ahead of key economic data — industrial production (IIP) for December — to be released after market closing today, had a significant influence on the trading pattern at the domestic bourses.
“I feel it's post-budget buying, taking place in certain counters,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Shares and Securities.
“Till the end of March we might see this sort of buying taking place and I don't see any major correction in this period.”
With regard to global cues, a firm trend in other Asian bourses, tracking overnight gains in the US markets after President Donald Trump promised to release a much-anticipated plan for tax cuts soon, boosted the trading momentum here.
Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 356.63 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Asian shares were close to 18-month highs on Friday, tracking a rally on Wall Street after US President Donald Trump promised to unveil a major tax announcement to lower the burden on businesses.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 per cent, testing its loftiest level since July 2015 touched a day earlier, and was on track to gain 1.1 for the week.