Indian shares closed at their highest in nearly five months on Friday, posting their fourth consecutive weekly gain, driven higher by financial stocks such as HDFC Bank, which hit a record intraday high. HDFC Bank, which rose as much as 9.5 pct in early trade, however pared gains after the Reserve Bank of India banned fresh buying by foreign investors in the company following a temporary relief on Thursday.
The benchmark BSE index closed 0.59 percent higher at 28,468.75. It was up 0.47 percent on the week. The broader NSE index rose 0.50 percent to 8,821.70. It made a weekly gain of 0.32 percent. Both indexes posted their fourth consecutive weekly gains. Shares of HDFC Bank rose as much as 9.5 pct to a record high of 1,454 rupees, after the Reserve Bank of India removed the bank from the ban list for foreign institutional investors' buying as aggregate foreign shareholding in the bank fell below the prescribed limit under the foreign direct investment policy.
"Some consolidation was due in the market and that's what the market has been doing... Don't think the market will give way easily," said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities. HDFC Bank shares were up 6.8 percent at 0600 GMT, paring gains on some profit-taking. The benchmark BSE index was 0.7 percent higher at 28,505.11, with financials contributing nearly 220 points to the index. Earlier in the day, the index rose as much as 1.5 percent to its highest since September 23, 2016. Financials surged with the Nifty Bank index rising as much as 4 percent to a record high while both the Nifty Private Bank index and the Nifty Financial Services index gained over 3.5 percent to hit all-time highs.
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