Indian shares on track to end week nearly 4% higher

Indian shares were set to end the holiday-shortened week nearly 4% higher on Thursday, with heavyweight financials boosting the indexes, as investors took cues from a rally in global markets after the US Federal Reserve hiked its interest rates.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was up 1.72% at 17,266.85, as of 0516 GMT, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex gained 1.80% to 57,838.18.

Broader Asian markets climbed, joining a rally in Wall Street, after the US central bank increased rates by an expected quarter point while signalling equivalent hikes at every meeting for the rest of the year.

"The next few days you will see a more steadied response to the Fed hike by major portfolio managers and allocators who will look at the implications (of the hike)," said Joseph Thomas, head of research at Emkay Wealth Management in Mumbai.

For the week, the Nifty and Sensex are on track to add about 4% each. The markets will be closed on Friday for a holiday.

Lower oil prices that allayed inflation fears, progress in the Russia-Ukraine talks, and more relaxations to Covid-19 curbs such as reopening of schools amid an expanded vaccination drive for children helped the Indian markets perform well this week.

In Mumbai trading, the Nifty Financial Services Index added 2.58%. Non-banking financial firm HDFC Ltd and private-sector lender Axis Bank were the top percentage gainers on the Nifty 50.

Jindal Poly Films Ltd scaled a record high after the company said it will sell a minority stake in its flagship packaging films business to Canada's Brookfield Asset Management.

Shares of Future Group firms fell between 6.5% and 10%, as the group's flagship company Future Retail's regulatory woes regarding its proposed sale of retail assets to Reliance Industries continue to deepen.