Indian shares ended higher on Friday helped by gains in financials such as HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, after the rupee firmed up against the dollar in late trade. The Reserve Bank of India may have sold USD/INR currency futures, NewsRise Financial reported, citing dealers. The benchmark BSE index closed 0.76 percent higher at 34,924.87 while the broader NSE index ended up 0.87 percent at 10,605.15.
The BSE index gained 0.22 percent for the week while the NSE index rose 0.18 percent. Both indexes registered a seventh weekly gain in nine. Short positions in the Indian rupee hit their highest level in nine months, a Reuters poll showed last week, with sentiment soured by rising oil prices which will add to the country's already widening trade deficit. "Over last couple of weeks, shares were volatile because of the Karnataka state elections. But now, markets have somewhat stabilised and IT stocks are attractive because of the weak rupee," said Pritesh Thakkar, Equity Research Associate at KR Choksey Investment Managers.
Asian shares were little changed on Friday amid concerns that US President Donald Trump will call off a key summit with North Korea. Multi Commodity Exchange Ltd surged as much as 8 percent after report of a merger with NSE. Liquor companies, United Breweries Ltd and United Spirits Ltd, rose more than 7 percent each after reporting strong Q4 results late on Thursday. GAIL (India) also gained about 3.7 percent after reporting a nearly four-fold rise in net profit.
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