By Sethuraman N R
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares closed higher on Friday to post their best day in nearly three weeks, led by gains in banks and metal stocks, helped by a recovery in global markets following a sell-off.
The NSE Nifty 50 index closed up 0.59% at 19,638.30 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.5% at 65,828.41 points.
The Nifty index gained more than 2% during the quarter, but closed lower for a second straight week, dropping 0.2%.
World shares were broadly higher on Friday but were set to end September with their worst quarterly performance in a year, haunted by worries over elevated interest rates. [MKTS/GLOB]
Indian equity markets remained concerned about macro sentiments and global growth slowdown amid higher interest rates, said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (retail), Kotak Securities.
High-weightage sectors like banks and financial stocks added 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively, while metals gained 1.9%. Meanwhile, the pharma index advanced 2.7%.
IT stocks were lone laggards, dropping 0.3%, after Accenture forecast full-year earnings and first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates.
Accenture’s performance and outlook would add to concerns over the near-term demand environment, implying weakness for Indian IT companies, Motilal Oswal analysts said in a note.
The IT index has lost about 5% in the last two weeks.
Among individual stocks, Vedanta Ltd jumped 7%, while Hindustan Zinc rose after it said it plans to create separate entities for its zinc, lead, silver and recycling businesses.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) fell as much as 8.7% after the country’s markets regulator asked it to put on hold the proposed go-live of its new commodity derivatives platform.
Navin Fluorine slumped 13.6% after its managing director resigned. Hindalco Industries was the top gainer in the Nifty 50 index, rising 5.5%.
Indian markets will be closed on Monday for a public holiday.
(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
