India’s benchmark indexes log longest weekly winning run since July
Live MintBy Bharath Rajeswaran and Indranil Sarkar -Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on Friday, buoyed by consumer stocks on easing domestic retail inflation, and logged their fourth straight weekly gain - the longest such streak since July end. Data on Thursday showed India's retail inflation eased in November, boosting expectations of an interest rate cut by the central bank in February. "The easing retail inflation is a good sign, which boosted consumer stocks on the day, but the Reserve Bank of India will at least wait for another month's data and focus on various components of inflation before thinking about a rate cut," said Avinash Gorakshakar, head of research at Profitmart Securities. Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel rose 4.4% on the day and 5.25% this week, after Jefferies identified the company among its top picks in Asia for 2025.