MUMBAI: Indian shares ended flat on Thursday ahead of US–Russia talks on Ukraine but logged weekly gains as IT and pharma stocks rose after a US–China tariff truce extension and rising hopes of a Fed rate cut.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.05% to 24,631.3 points, while the BSE Sensex gained 0.07% to 80,597.66. The benchmarks added about 1% for the week, snapping six straight weeks of losses-their longest since April 2020. Indian markets will be closed on Friday for Independence Day.
Fourteen of the 16 major sectors advanced this week.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps gained 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively.
Pharma and IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the US, rose 3.5% and 1.3% on optimism from the
Extension of the US–China tariff truce and softer US inflation.
Investors, however, remained cautious ahead of the high-stakes Russia–US presidential summit on August 15 in Alaska, which could impact India-US trade ties.