Indian shares rose for a fourth consecutive sesssion on Friday to post their biggest weekly gain in eight months, helped by a rally in financial firms and optimism ahead of the annual federal budget next week. The broader NSE index ended 0.45 percent higher at 8,641.25. It gained 3.50 percent on the week. The benchmark BSE index closed up 0.63 percent at 27,882.46. It posted a weekly gain of 3.14 percent.
Both indexes posted their biggest weekly gains since the week ended May 27, 2016.
Recent corporate results have been better than expected, analysts said, while investors are also anticipating give-aways and incentives to help nurse an economy hit by the shock ban on higher-value banknotes late last year.
"Results (at financial firms) have positively surprised the markets so far," said Ankit Agarwal, fund manager and senior vice president at Centrum Wealth Management Ltd. "The negative impact of demagnetisation was probably not as bad as it was initially thought."
Financial stocks led by Axis Bank, Housing Development Financial Corp and HDFC Bank contributed around 50 percent to the gains on the NSE index on Friday.
Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank were up as much as more than 3 percent.
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