Indian shares were on track for their fifth consecutive weekly gain on Friday in volatile trade, even as analysts pointed towards profit booking at higher valuations, while gains across tech stocks offset losses from banks.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.02 per cent at 17,96.15, while the S&P BSE Sensex edged up 0.03% at 60,317.14.
Both indexes were poised for a weekly rise of 1.4 per cent each, gaining for a fifth straight week.
“Valuations are at elevated levels now,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, adding, “There can be profit booking at current levels. There is no fundamental trigger for the market to move up,”
India’s Nifty IT index jumped 1.5 per cent to its highest in over two months.
Meanwhile, shares of oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd fell as much as 0.6 per cent following an overnight announcement on government raising tax on fuel exports after cutting them a little over two weeks ago, and slashing a windfall tax on locally produced crude oil.
Oil producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and miner Vedanta Ltd were up 1 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
The Nifty Bank index fell as much as 0.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian shares were left in limbo, while the U.S. dollar made all the running as recession clouds loomed over Europe, highlighting the relative outperformance of the U.S. economy.