Indian shares firm as metal stocks jump on strong commodity prices
BENGALURU - Indian shares rose to a one-week high on Friday and were set for solid weekly gains as metal stocks climbed further on strong commodity prices, with Tata Steel surging to a record peak.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.77% to 14,838.05 by 0347 GMT, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.76% to 49,319.68. Both indexes were set for weekly gains of more than 1%.
Flushed with liquidity, the stock market looked past a record daily rise in domestic coronavirus cases of 414,188, which took the total tally to 21.49 million. Several states have entered lockdowns to curb the spread, causing economists to cut growth expectations for Asia's third-largest economy.
Heavyweight HDFC Bank was the top boost, climbing 1.5% and pushing the Nifty Bank index 1.3% higher.
Shares of Tata Steel rose 4.1% to a record high, riding on strong quarterly results and metal prices. The Nifty metal index was the best performer, climbing 2.5% to an all-time peak.
Hero MotoCorp, the world's largest two-wheeler maker, fell marginally after an initial uptick following better-than-expected quarterly profit. The stock had risen more than 3% this week in the run-up to the results.
Heavyweight shadow lender HDFC Ltd and UltraTech Cement, scheduled to report their quarterly results later in the day, rose 1% each.
Broader equity markets were firm amid strong commodity prices and after a strong close on Wall Street following an upbeat U.S. jobless claims report.