A tide of foreign funds into Indian equities lifted the stock market on Friday, with shares finishing at a new high for the second straight day. Federal bonds edged lower on concerns about a 100-billion-rupee issue scheduled for next week and marginally higher-than-expected weekly price inflation. The 30-share BSE index> ended 0.24 percent higher at a new closing high of 7,210.77 points, gaining nearly 1 percent on the week and more than 17 percent in the last two months.
"The market was a bit jittery to begin with, but got stronger and we see it rising another 150 points or so before a correction takes place because fund flows are keeping the liquidity up," said Padmanabh Kamat, a dealer at Refco-Sify Securities.
Foreign investors pumped $1.33 billion into Indian shares in June after having been net sellers in April and May as they bet that steadily improving monsoon rains would help growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Data on Thursday showed India's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 7 percent in the January-March quarter, a level at which the government expects growth in 2005/06 as well.
Hindustan Lever Ltd rose 0.8 percent and cigarettes and foods maker ITC Ltd gained 1.3 percent. The two stocks together account for nearly 11 percent of the BSE index.
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd rose 1.2 percent and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd rose 0.6 percent.
But India's largest oil and gas producer state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp fell 3.7 percent as crude prices fell below $57 a barrel, after hitting nearly $61 this week.
The yield on the popular 8.07 percent bond rose nearly 5 basis points to close at 6.9781 percent on worries about new debt supply next week.
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