Indian Shares Edge Higher As Fed Rate Hike Bets Ease

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened on a buoyant note on Friday, extending gains from the previous two sessions as weak U.S. jobs data raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold rates this month and potentially in September.

The benchmark BSE Sensex surged 485 points, or 0.6 percent, to 77,987 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty index was up 160 points, or 0.7 percent, at 24,336.

IT stocks extended gains from the previous session, with HCL Technologies surging 4 percent and Tech Mahindra rising more that 2 percent.

UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, BEL and Tata Steel were up 2-3 percent.

Hindustan Zinc rallied 3 percent after reporting record Q1 mined output for the fifth straight year.

Bajaj Finance rose 1.2 percent after its Assets Under Management grew at the fastest pace in four quarters.

Lenskart Solutions advanced 2.4 percent after its board approved a scheme of amalgamation.

Bajaj Housing Finance climbed 4 percent after issuing a strong June quarter operational update, with gross disbursements rising 33 percent year-on-year.

PC Jeweller surged 3.5 percent after a solid Q1 business update.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles fell about 1 percent after its JLR volumes were impacted in Q1.