Indian shares extend record momentum on banking boost
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BENGALURU - Indian shares scaled record highs on Friday and were set to post a weekly gain of more than 1%, as banking stocks jumped a day after the country's finance minister laid out details for the establishment of a bad bank.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.52% to 17,721.0 by 0357 GMT, having hit a record of 17,741.05 earlier. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was 0.58% higher at 59,482.2, a shade lower than the all-time high of 59,550.88.
A sub-index for banking stocks extended gains from the previous session and rose to its highest level ever, after the government announced a 306.00 billion rupees ($4.16 bln) guarantee programme for securities to be issued by a newly incorporated "bad bank."
Meanwhile, Biocon Ltd jumped more than 3% after the biopharmaceutical company's unit said it would offer a 15% stake to vaccine giant Serum Institute Life Sciences, at a post-money valuation of about $4.9 billion.
Financial services provider Poonawalla Fincorp fell about 5%, a day after the company's managing director resigned. On Wednesday, India's market regulator had banned him and seven others from the securities market for alleged insider trading.
($1 = 73.5200 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
