Indian shares recover; Infosys falls

Indian shares closed marginally higher on Friday, led by software firm Tata Consultancy Services after upbeat quarterly profit, but a revenue forecast cut by smaller rival Infosys weighed on the technology index. The benchmark BSE index closed 0.11 percent higher at 27,673.60. The broader NSE index ended up 0.12 percent at 8,583.40. Both indexes lost more than 1.3 percent for the week. Tata Consultancy Services ended up 1.79 percent while Infosys declined 2.53 percent.
"I would pencil-in another 25 basis point cut (in repo rate), if not in December then definitely in March, as inflation numbers have come down," said Ravi Sunder Muthukrishnan, head - strategic research group at ICICI Securities. India's consumer price index rose 4.31 percent last month from a year earlier, its slowest pace since August 2015, helped by moderating food prices. This gives room for the central bank to cut interest rates again if needed. Banking shares rose, with the Nifty PSU bank index gaining as much as 1.5 percent. State Bank of India was up 1 percent, while Punjab National Bank gained 1.45 percent.