MUMBAI: India’s equity benchmarks inched higher on Friday and logged weekly gains, led by banks after the regulator announced a raft of lending reforms and as metals advanced on dollar weakness.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.23 percent to 24,894.25, while the BSE Sensex added 0.28 percent to 81,207.17.
The indexes rose about 1 percent in the week, led by high-weight banks, state-owned lenders and private banks which rose 2.2 percent, 4.4 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, after the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday eased rules for lending to capital markets and large companies.
The RBI, which maintained rates as expected, also detailed plans to increase limits on lending against shares and reduce risk weights for non-bank lenders for infrastructure projects.
“The status quo on rates is a relief for banks as a rate cut would have led to contraction of net interest margins, while the relaxation of restrictions on bank loans will aid credit growth,” said Prakhar Sharma and Vinayak Agrawal, equity analysts at Jefferies.
Metals rose 1.8 percent on the day to a record high, lifting weekly gains to 3.9 percent, supported by a weaker dollar on firming October US rate cut bets and supply disruptions.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps rose 1.8 percent and 2 percent this week.
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