Indian shares close at one-week high on IT, energy push

Indian shares close at one-week high on IT, energy push

BENGALURU- Indian shares rose to their highest levels in a week on Thursday, led by energy and technology stocks, as the market looked past fears over the Omicron coronavirus variant to focus on domestic factors, including strong economic data. The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 1.37% at 17,401.65, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex advanced 1.35% to 58,461.29. Both indexes recorded their biggest one-day gain in a month after sharply dropping last week and see-sawing on fears over the Omicron variant. The Nifty IT index climbed over 2% and was the top sub-index performer on the blue-chip index on Thursday. The gains were led by MindTree Ltd, Mphasis Ltd and L&T Technologies, up between 3.1% and 3.2%. The Nifty Energy Index ended up 1.65% after climbing as much as 1.75% earlier in the session. The sub-index was boosted by shares of transmission companies Adani Transmission and Power Grid Corporation of India , up 4.9% and 3.5%, respectively. State-controlled refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp was also among the top performers on the sub-index with a 2.7% gain. Oil prices rose on Thursday, with Brent crude futures up 1.8%, but gains were capped amid fears the Omicron variant will hurt fuel