India’s Sensex and Nifty closed Friday at their highest levels in more than eight months, with the Sensex up 1,718.01 points to 81,028.02 and the Nifty up 493.75 points to 25,030.35, according to market reports.
The move stood out because other markets fell. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 6.02%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 5.96%, and a market analyst said US indices fell sharply as AI-related trades were unwound.
For founders raising money, the signal is mixed. Strong benchmarks and heavy foreign buying support sentiment, but midcap and smallcap indices ended lower on Friday, and a week of gains of about 8% can reverse.
Figures are market data and not investment advice.
Other reports put the weekly gains at about 8.8% for the Sensex and 8.6% for the Nifty, which they describe as the best week in about six years, according to search summaries of Business Standard and CNBC-TV18 coverage.
Foreign institutional investors bought Rs 14,974.68 crore of equities on Thursday, according to exchange data cited by ETV Bharat.
Banks helped on Friday, and one summary says the Nifty Bank index rose 1,312 points to 59,086.
Broader markets were weaker than the benchmarks: ETV Bharat says the Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.54% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 0.87%.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi fell 6.02% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 5.96%, and the Shanghai and Hang Seng indices each ended more than 1% lower, according to ETV Bharat.
Ponmudi R, chief executive of Enrich Money, told ETV Bharat that US markets were also under pressure, with the Dow down 3.4%, the S&P 500 down 4.36% and the Nasdaq down 5.52%.
The same comment attributed the US selling to a broad unwinding of AI-related trades, which is that analyst’s view and not an official finding.
Ajit Mishra of Religare Broking said Brent crude had rebounded toward $100 a barrel, according to ETV Bharat.
Bombay Stock Exchange building, Mumbai (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0