BENGALURU: Indian shares are set to open higher on Friday and extend gains to a third consecutive week, helped by hopes of the US Federal Reserve ending rate hikes and lower crude oil prices.

India’s GIFT Nifty was down 0.13% at 19,794.50 as of 8:07 a.m. IST on Friday, but still above the benchmark Nifty 50’s Thursday close of 19,765.20.

The Nifty and Sensex hit four-week highs on Thursday, supported by gains in information technology (IT) stocks.

Both benchmarks have risen about 1.75% for the week so far, led by a 5.33% jump in IT stocks.

IT stocks surged after benign US inflation data led to expectations that the Fed is done with rate hikes in this cycle, as these companies derive a large part of their revenue from the US, and are sensitive to interest rates.

The soft inflation data also triggered foreign buying in Indian equities.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares for the second session in a row on Thursday, adding 9.57 billion rupees ($115 million) worth of shares on a net basis.

IT stocks power Indian blue-chips to four-week highs

FIIs were net sellers for 15 sessions in a row, prior to the buying in the last two sessions. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors extended their buying streak for the 21st session in a row, picking up shares worth a net 7.06 billion rupees.

Broader Asian markets took a breather on Friday, after a rally earlier in the week while Wall Street equities closed marginally lower overnight.

Brent crude futures fell to a four-month low of $77.42 per barrel on Thursday, and hovered around those levels in Asia hours amid demand concerns in the US and China.

A fall in oil prices is a positive for importers of the commodity like India.