Indian shares rise after Adani investment boost

Indian shares rose on Friday after GQG Partners' $1.87 billion investment in Adani stocks helped markets look past rate-hike worries for the moment, turning foreign investors into buyers after a six-session hiatus.

The Nifty 50 index rose 1.18% to 17,526.10, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 1.16% to 59,593.68 as of 10:18 am IST.

All the 13 major sectoral indexes rose. Financials and information technology added 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively.

A 10% jump in Adani Enterprises advance 2%. The firm has over 10% weightage on the metal index.

All Adani stocks surged after US boutique investment firm GQG Partners Inc bought shares worth $1.87 billion in four of the group companies, the first major investment in the Indian conglomerate since a short-seller's critical report sparked a stock rout.

"The funding will assuage concerns about Adani Group's ability to raise funding for repayment of loans," Aditya Mongia and Teena Virmani of Kotak Institutional Equities said.

Broader Asian markets were also up on Friday, after a higher overnight close in Wall Street equities.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought a net 127.71 billion rupees worth of Indian equities on Thursday, aided by investment in Adani group companies.

However, some analysts warned broader rate-hike worries still loomed.

"While the investment in Adani group stocks is positive for sentiment... global rate-hike concerns will continue to pile the pressure on markets in the near term," said Narendra Solanki, head of equity research at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.

Among individual stocks, MOIL rose over 2% after reporting a 10% jump in the production of manganese ore in February.

Natco Pharma jumped nearly 5% after company said it will consider proposal to buy back shares in a board meeting on March 8.