Indian stocks rose nearly 2 percent on Friday, posting their first weekly gain in four, as a rebound in commodity prices and Bank of Japan's bold move to adopt negative interest rates ended a tough month for markets with a flourish. The broader NSE index ended 1.87 percent higher, its biggest single-day percentage gain in a week. For the week, the index gained 1.9 percent, its first weekly gain in four. It shed 4.8 percent in January in its worst monthly performance since August 2015.
The benchmark BSE index ended 1.64 percent higher on Friday. For the week, it rose 1.78 percent but fell 4.77 percent in January. Asian markets gained between 1 percent and 3 percent as BoJ's move surprised investors, most of whom had believed Japanese policymakers were too cautious to ever adopt such a radical measure. The rally also got legs from global oil prices that were trading above $34 a barrel and heading towards their second weekly gain.
"Oil prices have recovered 20 percent from their lows and metal prices have firmed up supporting the market," said G Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a Mumbai-based research and fund advisory firm. Gains were led by bluechip stocks such as Reliance, Housing Development Finance Corp and Infosys Yes Bank surged 7 percent after the lender reported a better-than-expected 25 percent increase in quarterly profit. Vedanta was trading 6.3 percent higher despite reporting a 99 percent fall in profit after the mining company said it was making efforts to cut costs aggressively.
Larsen & Toubro was trading 2 percent higher ahead of reporting results due later in the day. Among the stocks that fell, ICICI Bank tumbled 3.45 percent, Maruti Suzuki fell 0.9 percent, while Bharti Airtel was down 0.45 percent all on the back of reporting disappointing earnings after market close on Thursday.
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