Indian Shares Extend Gains For Third Day

(RTTNews) - Indian shares rose for a third straight session on Friday, even as overall gains remained capped as IT stocks faced selling pressure after recent gains following a rebound in global AI and semiconductor stocks.

Escalating Middle East tensions and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's rate path also kept overall gains in check, heading into the weekend.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex rose 166.49 points, or 0.21 percent, to 78,094.64, with firm cues from global markets and a downtick in crude oil prices helping underpin sentiment.

The NSE Nifty index edged up 66.45 points, or 0.27 percent, to 24,383.60, while the mid-cap and small-cap indexes on the BSE rose around 0.4 percent each.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE, with 2,568 shares rising while 1,655 shares fell and 202 shares closed unchanged.

Among the top gainers, Bajaj Finance soared 8.1 percent and Bajaj FinServ surged 6.6 percent after posting strong Q1 results.

Likewise, Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 3.6 percent after reporting strong growth in Q1 net profit.

On the losing side, ITC, Infosys, Eternal and TCS shed 2-3 percent.