Indian shares were little changed on Friday as gains in some individual stocks such as State Bank of India supported indexes, while broader sentiment was hurt after hawkish comments from some U.S. Federal Reserve officials.
State Bank of India rose as much as 3.54 percent to its highest since August, 2015 after the board on Thursday approved a share swap ratio for merging its subsidiaries.
But broader sentiment was hit, with the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.6 percent, after New York Fed President William Dudley and San Francisco Fed President John Williams reiterated the case for raising interest rates in the coming months.
Indian stock indexes were flat to slightly lower for the week as the recent momentum has slowed due to a lack of meaningful drivers despite good buying by foreign investors.
“Though we are getting good inflows, a lot of people domestically are waiting for a correction. Profit-taking is also happening at all levels,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.
The Nifty was up 0.13 percent at8,683.95 as of 0635 GMT, swinging between gains and losses.
The Sensex was 0.07 percent higher at 28,142.82.
The Nifty Bank index touched a 17-month high, with State Bank of India being the top percentage gainer, and has gained about 2 percent this month.
But Power Grid Corp of India fell as much as 1.35 percent after rising 2.2 percent this week on the back of good earnings and positive management commentary.
Coal India was among the top percentage losers on the NSE index with a loss of 1.52 percent and was headed for its second straight session of falls after hitting its highest since Sept. 7 on Wednesday.
[Source:- Reuters]
