Indian shares post weekly loss as Fed jitters, closing auction weigh

Indian shares inched higher on Friday, but posted a third straight weekly loss, their longest falling streak in five months, on concerns over a new closing-auction mechanism and caution ahead of the Federal Reserve Chair’s speech. On Friday, the Nifty 50 rose 0.35% to 24,175.65 points, while the BSE Sensex added 0.43% to 77,264.51. The IT index jumped 3.5%, supported by upbeat quarterly results from U.S. chipmaker Nvidia. For the week, the Nifty and Sensex fell 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. India’s new closing auction session, which determines the official closing prices of futures and options-eligible stocks, remained in focus following sharp moves on monthly derivatives expiry days. The Nifty’s indicative price dropped from negative 0.24% to negative 1.4% on Tuesday while on Thursday, BSE derivatives turnover hit an 11-month expiry day low with its indicative close briefly falling more than 3% during the closing auction. SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Thursday the regulator was not considering immediate changes to the mechanism despite concerns over the market swings. The key market concern is whether the closing auction can absorb large institutional orders without crea