By Bharath Rajeswaran
July 17 (Reuters) – Indian benchmarks rose on Friday, led by IT and financial stocks after Tech Mahindra and Jio Financial posted positive quarterly results, with heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank also up as investors awaited their earnings.
The benchmark Nifty 50 rose 0.74% to 24,253.5 and the BSE Sensex added 0.90% to 77,885.16 by 10:45 a.m. IST.
Twelve of the 16 major sectors logged gains. Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries, due to report after market hours on Friday, rose 2%, with analysts expecting steady revenue growth.
Top private lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank rose 1.2% each, with their quarterly updates indicating strong loan growth.
IT index rose 1.1%, with Tech Mahindra up 2% after it topped estimates. Wipro, in contrast, fell 1.5% after it missed estimates and signalled a weak recovery.
Analysts have said the sector has some room to rise due to its sharp underperformance this year — the index is down 23.3% so far in 2026.
Heavyweight financials rose 1% on Friday, led by Jio Financial’s 5.2% rise after its quarterly profit surge.
The blue-chip Nifty and Sensex are up 0.1% and 0.3% this week, with the Nifty stuck in a 290-point band between 24,000 and 24,290, its tightest weekly range of 2026, underscoring an ongoing consolidation.
“While sentiment remains cautious due to Middle East tensions and higher crude prices, domestic earnings season and management commentary will dictate near-term market direction,” said Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities.
Brent crude rose 1% to $85 a barrel on Friday on intensifying U.S.-Iran hostilities. It has risen about 12% so far this week. [O/R]
The broader small-caps and mid-caps lost 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, with the small-caps set to snap five straight weeks of gains.
Tyre-maker CEAT lost 7.1% after missing profit estimates.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Janane Venkatraman)