BENGALURU, June 3 (Reuters) – Indian shares rose to a four-week high on Friday and were set for a third straight weekly gain, boosted by a strong recovery in beaten-down technology stocks and as Reliance Industries hovered just shy of record highs.

The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) was up 0.7% at 16,744.6, as of 0507 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.9% to 56,318.06. The indexes are set for weekly advances of 2.5% each, if gains hold.

Lifting local sentiment, broader Asian markets rose on prospects of the U.S. Federal Reserve turning less aggressive on its policy tightening stance following softer-than-expected employment data.

“The rebound we are seeing is in line with a recovery in global markets, but we are still not out of the woods as high inflation continues to persist,” said Ajit Mishra, vice president, research at Religare Broking.

Even with inflationary pressures at fresh highs, India’s dominant services sector in May expanded at the fastest pace in 11 years on strong demand, a private survey showed. read more

Investors are finding valuations somewhat attractive now after the recent corrections, Mishra added.

The Nifty IT index (.NIFTYIT) rose as much as 2.4% and was set for a weekly gain of around 6%, after falling for eight consecutive weeks. The index has dropped 23% so far this year amid losses in global peers on concerns over valuations and attrition.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), India’s most valuable firm, climbed 3.4% to a one-month high.

Specialty chemicals firm Aether Industries (AETH.NS) gained up to 20.6% in its market debut after its $104 million initial public offering received strong investor response.

Bucking the upbeat mood, commodity chemicals company Deepak Nitrite (DPNT.NS) slumped 5.6% following a fire at its manufacturing site in Gujarat.

Shares of UltraTech Cement (ULTC.NS) fell up to 3.7% after the company said it would spend $1.66 billion to boost capacity as it looks to stave off competition from the sector’s newest entrant Adani Group. read more

Source by: reuters