By Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmark indexes rose amid a broadly stronger Asian market on Friday, buoyed by easing U.S. Treasury yields along with gains in information technology and consumer stocks.
The Nifty 50 rose 1.13% at 24,889.20, while the BSE Sensex was up 1.11% at 81,877.54 as of 10:55 a.m. IST.
The broader small- and mid-caps reversed their opening losses, and were up by about 0.4% each.
Consumer stocks added 1.8%. ITC led gains on the sub-index, rising 2% on strong March-quarter earnings.
Meanwhile, the IT index, which lost 1.3% in the previous session, was up 1.8%.
Foreign portfolio investors offloaded 50.45 billion rupees ($586.8 million) worth of Indian equities on Thursday, spurred by elevated U.S. yields and concerns that a new tax-cut bill would add trillions of dollars to U.S. debt.
However, yields eased after the bill narrowly passed the U.S. House as the selloff drew some buyers, offering some relief to emerging markets.
Other Asian markets gained, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan up 0.4% following a 0.9% drop in the previous session.
Despite the gains in the session, both the Nifty and Sensex are down about 1% for this week.
“With lingering uncertainty over the U.S. economy, foreign flows and trade negotiations, it is likely that Indian markets will witness consolidation in the short term,” said Aditya Khemka, fund manager at InCred Asset Management.
“The fact that there is a sequential earnings recovery in the March quarter is positive for domestic equities, but the revival is modest at best which will keep the gains capped,” Khemka said.
Bucking the broader trend, pharma index lost 0.5%.
Sun Pharma dropped 3.3% after brokerages lowered earnings forecasts, citing soft fiscal 2026 revenue guidance.
Among other stocks, Honasa Consumer jumped 12% as multiple brokerages raised their 2026 revenue estimates, citing improving outlook and growth in new brands.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Varun H K and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
