Indian shares scaled peaks on Friday, boosted by conglomerate Reliance Industries, while investors awaited U.S. jobs data later in the day to ascertain the pace and timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering of asset purchases.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.30% at 17,285.65 by 0345 GMT and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.34% to 58,048.11. Both the indexes are set for their second straight weekly gain.
Reliance Industries Ltd and Eicher Motors Ltd were among the top performers on the Nifty 50, gaining 1.2% and 2.4%, respectively.
Shares of HDFC Life Insurance Co Ltd fell as much as 4.2% after it said it would buy the life insurance unit of battery maker Exide Industries Ltd for 66.87 billion rupees ($915.02 million), while Exide Industries surged nearly 10%.
