Indian shares recovered from a sharp early drop to end higher on Friday, helped by gains in heavy-weight Reliance Industries, with investors seeking bargains as the indexes registered their first weekly loss in three.
The NSE Nifty 50 index and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell more than 3.5% each, earlier in the day on concerns over a surge in domestic coronavirus cases and a global sell-off in riskier assets.
The indexes, however, recovered with the Nifty 50 index ending up 0.72% at 9,972.90 and Sensex gaining 0.72% at 33,780.89.
"There is still a lot of liquidity in the markets. Also, a lot of people have missed the rally and there is fear of missing it. We will keep seeing buying on dips till the liquidity lasts," said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO at Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.
Dasgupta, however, said the Indian market would keep seeing an overhang from rising coronavirus cases, adding that markets like the U.S. and India have gone ahead of their fundamentals. "One has to be there in very quality, large cap stocks where the downside is limited."
The number of coronavirus cases in India surpassed the UK, with the total number jumping to 297,535 on Friday. It is now the fourth worst affected country in the world.
Among individual stocks, Reliance Industries Ltd rose 3.3% and was the top boost to the Nifty 50 index.
Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd ended up 7.14% and was the top gainer in the Nifty 50 index after the company posted March-quarter results.
Meanwhile, global stocks erased some losses with Europe's STOXX 600 Index gaining 1.45% and the S&P 500 e-minis rose 1.00% after the three main U.S. stock indexes posted their worst day on Thursday since mid-March.
Indian investors are also keeping an eye out for retail inflation data for May due later in the day.