India’s BSE Sensex closed about 0.3% up at 77,764 on Friday, the highest since early May and extending gains for a third straight session. Cooling crude oil prices, growing expectations of a more accommodative global monetary policy stance and ongoing strength in IT stocks continued to support market sentiment. The heavyweight tech sector continued to benefit from expectations that a more dovish US central bank could boost technology stocks globally. HCL Tech (5.8%) led gains among stocks, with Tech Mahindra (1.8%), TCS (1.2%) and Infosys (0.6%) also advancing. Bajaj Finance rose 1.4% as it reported a strong operational performance for the first quarter of FY27, with robust growth in assets under management (AUM), loan disbursements and customer acquisition. Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Kotak Bank posted the largest declines, ranging between 0.7%-1.6%. For the week, the index booked a 0.9% gain.
US stocks closed mixed on Thursday, as tech volatility gripped trading ahead of the holiday, despite easing concerns over rate hikes. The S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.8%. Chipmakers fell for a second day as investors questioned whether AI optimism had pushed valuations beyond reasonable levels. Fresh developments included reports that OpenAI was in talks to sell a 5% stake to the US government, while Meta (-4.9%) said it may monetize its excess compute capacity. Micron sank 7%, Applied Materials slipped 7.4%, and AMD dropped 4.3%. Tesla fell 7.5% despite a strong deliveries report. Still, the Dow climbed 595 points to a new record high amid strength in traditional sectors. A softer-than-expected June jobs report pushed back expectations of an imminent Fed hike. Apple gained 4.8%, while Visa and Walmart both rose around 3%. For the week, the S&P gained 1.8%, the Nasdaq added 2.1% and the Dow rose 2%. The stock market will be closed Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
