Sensex, Nifty gain, bonds slip; all eyes on S&P rating

By Arnab Paul

(Reuters) - Indian shares rose for a seventh straight session on Friday led by IT firms, while bonds dipped on market talk of a potential sovereign ratings upgrade by Standard & Poor's (S&P) later in the day.

Speculation about an S&P rating upgrade on India surfaced late on Thursday. This comes after a surprise upgrade by Moody's last week.

"There is a knee-jerk reaction in the market because of the S&P expectation," said Guarang Shah, head investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"There could be a bump of 200-300 points, but the markets will consolidate again. However, these upgrades could see new foreign investments coming in."

Foreign investors have net bought $2.33 billion worth of Indian shares in November so far.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.36 percent at 10,385.8 as of 0637 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.27 percent higher at 33,679.92.

The last time the NSE index rallied for seven straight sessions was between June 12 and June 23, 2015.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield was up 7.01 percent after rising to as high as 7.02 percent earlier in the day.

The Nifty IT index, up for a second session with Infosys Ltd leading the gains, was one of the top gainers among sectoral indexes.

"IT stocks were the underperformers when the indexes rallied earlier this month, but better-than-expected quarterly numbers and the ability to scale up operations by launching high margin products will bring traction in this sector," Shah added.

Shares of Swaraj Engines Ltd soared as much as 16.9 percent after the company announced a proposal for share buyback.

(Reporting by Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)