BENGALURU, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Friday to
post their best week since early September, as banking and
energy stocks gained following reduced concerns over the
severity of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Benchmark indexes rose for a fifth session in six, with the
NSE Nifty 50 index ending up 0.38% at 17,812.70, and the
S&P BSE Sensex rising 0.24% to 59,744.65. Both indexes
had slumped more than 1% in the previous session.
The Nifty and the Sensex gained about 2.6% for the week,
their best showing since the week ended Sept. 3, 2021.
Global shares largely held their ground with U.S. futures
gaining and Asian shares rallying after two days of losses,
helping lift sentiment in the domestic market.
Though hospitalization rate and deaths were relatively
lower, India reported more than 117,000 COVID-19 cases, a
five-fold increase in a week.
In Mumbai, the Nifty Bank Index notched its sixth
session of gains in the last seven, closing 0.67% higher. HDFC
Life Insurance and ICICI Bank rose 2.1% and
1%, respectively.
The Nifty energy index added 0.89%, with top
Indian producer Oil & Natural Gas Corp rising 4.1%.
Oil prices jumped as escalating unrest in Kazakhstan stoked
worries that crude supply from the OPEC+ producer group could be
disrupted.
Reliance Industries gained 0.8% amid the surge in
oil prices and after its retail arm invested $200 million for a
stake in online delivery platform Dunzo to get a foothold into
the rapidly growing market of superfast dispatch of goods.
Grasim Industries also provided support, ending as
the top percentage gainer on the Nifty 50, after brokerage
Motilal Oswal upgraded its rating on the textile-to-chemicals
maker to "buy," sending its shares up 4.5%
Business process management company Hinduja Global Solutions
sank 20% after a special dividend announced by it
missed expectations.
(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru)