Indian shares extended their recent sharp gains on Friday, as the Federal Reserve's extension of the timeframe of its ultra-loose monetary policy until 2014 and a stronger rupee, which touched a fresh two-and-a-half month high in the afternoon, bolstered hopes for sustained FII inflows. Investors are also expecting the government to unveil a raft of investor-friendly policies in the upcoming budget.
The Union Budget for the 2012-13 financial year would be presented around mid-March at the earliest after the election process for electing five new state assemblies gets over, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, India's annual food inflation remained in the negative zone for the fourth week in the seven days to January 14, government data released today showed, reinforcing expectations of lower interest rates in the months to come.
Maintaining the uptrend for a fourth week, the benchmark 30-share Sensex ended the day up 157 points or 0.92 percent at 17,234, while the broader Nifty index climbed 46 points or 0.9 percent to 5,205. Second-line stocks also received good buying support, with the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ending up 0.7 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
Energy giant Reliance Industries rallied 3.5 percent ahead of its share buyback offer, which commences on February 01. IT stocks such TCS and Infosys rose 1-2 percent as the Fed pledged to support U.S. economic growth.
Metal stocks such as Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sterlite jumped 2-5 percent after base metals rallied overnight in the wake of Fed's pledge to keep interest rates near zero at least until the middle of 2013. Sesa Goa closed up almost 7 percent after the Vedanta group firm reported higher volumes and price realization in the December quarter results.
Automakers like Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors rose 2-4 percent, engineering & construction giant Larsen & Toubro gained 3.8 percent, state-run oil explorer ONGC rose 2.2 percent and private sector lender ICICI Bank closed up 1.1 percent.
Sugar stocks rallied as the government formed an experts panel to look into all the issues relating to de-regulation of the sugar sector. Balrampur Chinni soared 6.5 percent, Dhampur Sugar climbed 5.5 percent, Triveni Engineering & Industries jumped 11.7 percent and Shree Renuka advanced 6.7 percent.
Petronet LNG closed little changed, paring sharp early gains. The nation's largest liquefied natural gas importer reported a whopping 73 percent rise in quarterly profit, but operating profit margin fell to 7.9 percent in the third quarter versus 9.52 percent in the year-ago period.
Reliance Power also closed on a flat note after the company inked an agreement with RWE Power International of Germany to help double coal production at its captive mines of the Tilaiya ultra-mega power project.
Ranbaxy slumped 6.6 percent on brokerage downgrades after the drug maker agreed to make significant changes in its manufacturing facilities in India and the U.S. as part of a settlement that ends wide-ranging investigations against the company by the U.S. regulatory authorities.
Coal India eased 0.7 percent on reports that it will announce the new set of coal prices this month. Canara Bank tumbled 3.2 percent on posting disappointing Q3 results.
NTPC shed half a percent. The state-run power major said it has received environmental clearance for its meta thermal power project at Kudgi in Bijapur district of Karnataka.
On the global front, other Asian markets swung between gains and losses before ending mostly higher on Friday as the Fed's decision to provide some policy certainty outweighed concerns surrounding Greece's debt talks. The markets in China and Taiwan were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
European stocks fluctuated as enthusiasm over the Fed's ultra-low interest rate policy gave way to pessimism concerning Greek debt-swap talks. Talks between Athens and its private sector bondholders will continue today to reach a deal on restructuring the country's debt, which is a pre-condition for securing more aid from its international creditors.
Investors also await bond auctions in Italy and U.S. fourth-quarter GDP growth numbers due later in the session for clues to economic outlook.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.