BENGALURU: Indian shares ended higher on Friday, narrowing their weekly losses sparked by a brutal sell-off earlier this week, as a bigger-than-expected drop in US unemployment claims allayed fears of a recession in the world’s top economy.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 1.04% to 24,367.5, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 1.04% to 79,705.91.

The IT index jumped 1.6% after lower-than-expected weekly unemployment claims calmed recession fears in the United States, which is a significant source of revenue for the sector. All sectoral indexes advanced.

The IT index lost 1.9% on Thursday ahead of the jobs data.

India’s Nifty 50 and Sensex have lost about 1.5% each this week, their steepest weekly drop since the end of May, as concerns over US slowdown following a bleak July jobs report and unwinding of yen carry trades spurred a global sell-off and triggered profit-booking.

While India’s unhindered growth prospects make it resilient to the current global uncertainty, rich valuations could trigger bouts of profit-booking, said Seshadri Sen and Arthkumar Gandhi of Emkay Global.

“If a correction does crystallise, we would see that as an entry opportunity for longer-term investors,” they said. Among individual stocks, Eicher Motors rose 5.54% after the maker of Royal Enfield motorcycles beat June-quarter profit estimates, leading gains in the auto index, which was up 1.72%.