Indian shares rose on Friday as investors snapped up beaten-down information technology stocks and higher crude prices lifted Oil and Natural Gas Corp, with a slight rebound in global markets also aiding sentiment.
Asian stocks recovered some of their steep losses from the previous session after U.S. markets limited further declines from hawkish Fed comments, supported by a firm economy and strong earnings at Apple Inc. [MKTS/GLOB]
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 1.3% to 17,325 by 0500 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 1.2% to 57,929.
"We are seeing some buying in the markets after a good amount of correction, especially in beaten-down mid-cap IT stocks. This looks more like a relief rally," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president at SMC Securities.
The Nifty IT index rose 2.1% after losing more than 14% in the previous eight straight sessions of falls.
"Sectoral churning is happening with money moving from growth to value stocks and we are seeing gains in the banking and energy sectors. The numbers coming out from banks are largely good," Jain said.
The Nifty 50 index has fallen nearly 7% since hitting a record high in mid-October amid a surge in Omicron COVID-19 variant cases and fears over a rise in global interest rates.
A surge in crude oil prices lifted explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp by 5% to its highest in more than two-and-a-half years. ONGC was the top gainer in the blue-chip Nifty 50 index.
Shares of Bharti Airtel climbed as much as 6.6% to scale a two-month high after saying Alphabet Inc's Google would invest up to $1 billion in the telecom operator.
Shares of Coforge Ltd, LIC HFL and Route Mobile surged 7.3%, 11% and 9% respectively, after reporting strong December-quarter earnings on Thursday.
Mahindra Logistics and CE Info Systems fell 9% and 8% respectively, after posting lower quarterly profits.
