Indian Shares Extend Gains For Second Day

(RTTNews) - Indian shares closed higher on Friday, extending gains from the previous session on optimism for an India-U.S. trade deal after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the U.S. has received the "best ever" offer from India.

As trade talks continue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had a "very warm and engaging" phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 449.53 points, or 0.53 percent, to 85,267.66, after having snapped a three-day losing streak the previous day.

The broader NSE Nifty index surged 148.40 points, or 0.57 percent, to 26,046.95 following the Fed's less hawkish than expected outlook on rates and ahead of key domestic inflation data due later in the day.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes jumped 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE, with 2,588 shares rising while 1,597 shares declined and 171 shares closed unchanged.

Among the top gainers, Maruti Suzuki India, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, Eternal and Tata Steel rallied 2-3 percent.

Global cues were positive, with Asian and European markets rising on investor optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve will deliver more interest-rate cuts in 2026.

The U.S. dollar was on track for a third straight weekly loss, hovering near two-month lows due to increasing monetary policy divergence between the ECB and the Fed.

Gold hovered near a seven-week peak, while oil prices rose on concerns of Venezuelan supply disruptions.