Indian shares were off to a positive start on Friday, aided
by high weightage information technology (IT) and financials
stocks, as analysts find valuations attractive after a recent
correction, ahead of key economic data to gauge the path for
future rate hikes.
The Nifty 50 index was up 1.10% at 17,268.50, as of 9:52 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1.18% to 58,640.64. All 13 major sectoral indexes advanced. The heavyweight financials index rose 1.2%, while IT jumped 1.5%.
Forty of the Nifty 50 constituents logged gains. The Nifty is on course to extend losses for the fourth month, its longest losing streak since 2001. The recent correction has rendered valuations attractive, according to analysts. Global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley upgraded India to "equal weight" from "under weight", citing economic resilience and valuation premiums. Investors at home are awaiting a set of macroeconomic indicators, including current account data and external debt.
Data on personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in the U.S., the Fed's preferred indicator of inflation, is also due later in the day.
Asian equities indexes advanced, on strong economic data from China. Among individual stocks, Bharat Electronics surged over 7% after the company bagged multiple orders from the Ministry of Defence. JSW Energy shares rose over 3% after the company
acquired renewable energy portfolio of Mytrah Energy.
On the flip side, shares of Lupin fell more
than 2% after the U.S. FDA issued a Form 483 with 10
observations for the company's Pithampur unit-2 manufacturing
facility.
($1 = 82.0670 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru;Editing by
Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Sonia Cheema)
