Indian stocks ended higher in volatile trading on Friday, helped by information technology and energy shares, although investors remained nervous about rising coronavirus cases and tensions with China.
The NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 0.91% at 10,383 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.94% at 35,171.27. Both the indexes rose more than 1% this week and recorded a second straight week of gains.
The Nifty information technology index was the top gainer, rising 4.1%. Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd were the top boosts to the blue chip index with a rise of 6.6% and 4.9%, respectively.
"There is caution (coming into markets). Now investors have to be in quality stocks because virus cases are rising," said AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital in Mumbai.
"Markets would pause here and stocks with fundamentals will sustain."
Investors are also keeping a close watch on tensions between India and China due to their border dispute, analysts said.
India on Thursday accused China of deploying large numbers of troops and weapons along a disputed Himalayan border in violation of bilateral agreements.
Also, data showed on Friday that India's total coronavirus cases stand at nearly half a million with the death toll at more than 15,000.
Shares of UCO Bank Ltd closed up 15.8% after the state lender reported a profit in the March quarter, compared with a loss a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was up 0.3%, extending gains from late on Thursday.
