MUMBAI: India’s benchmark indexes closed higher on Thursday to log their best week in more than four years and erase all their year-to-date losses, led by a rally in heavyweight financial stocks.
The Nifty 50 ended 1.8% higher at 23,851.65, while the BSE Sensex added 1.96% to end at 78,553.2 ahead of the Good Friday holiday. The indexes rose 4.5% in the holiday-truncated week, while their major Asian peers underperformed due to the uncertainty over US tariffs and worries about their effect on economic growth.
This week, financial stocks rallied on the prospects of healthier net interest margins after top lenders lowered their deposit rates, following the central bank’s rate cut.
Besides that, the escalating Sino-US trade war could boost Indian companies’ chances in the China-plus one strategy and that could mean higher demand for credit, said Ambareesh Baliga, an independent market analyst.
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