India's key share index ended steady at a 5-1/2-month high on Friday as investors awaited the start of the earnings season next week for cues, while high crude oil prices muted gains.
Bonds ended at 20-month lows, erasing gains induced by a faster-than-expected fall in inflation, after the central bank said the government would borrow 60 billion rupees next week through fixed-rate bonds instead of floating-rate debt, as expected.
The Mumbai Stock Exchange top-30 share index added 0.06 percent to 5,776.85 points, up 1.8 percent on the week.
"Clearly, players are turning cautious at these levels and the market is running into a roadblock at 5,800," said Sagar Tanna, a dealer at Motilal Oswal Securities. "Crude oil prices are definitely a concern at current levels."
US light crude eased to $52 a barrel on Friday after hitting record highs in each of the three previous sessions. It hit a peak of $53 a barrel on Thursday.
India's top-three exporters of software services - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Wipro Ltd. - release their July-September earnings next week. TCS rose 0.1 percent, Infosys added 0.2 percent and Wipro climbed 1 percent.
Steel and cement makers are seen gaining from the government's focus on infrastructure in Asia's fourth-largest economy. State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd., India's top steel maker, rose 2.5 percent while Grasim Industries Ltd., India's largest cement group, gained 2.2 percent.
The benchmark 10-year 7.37 percent bond yield rose to end at 6.6592 percent from an intra-day low of 6.5004 percent, touched after the inflation data was released.
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