Sensex gains on Fed rally; posts best week since mid-June

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's stock markets rose on Friday to post their biggest weekly gains since mid-June, tracking a rally in Asian markets after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting quelled expectations of an imminent U.S. rate hike.

A spurt in crude futures after an influential forecaster predicted that a market rally was not far off also lifted oil explorers such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp .

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 0.87 percent to 27,079.51, posting a 3.27 percent gain for the week, its biggest since the week ended on June 19 and a second consecutive weekly gain.

The broader Nifty rose 0.74 percent to 8,189.70, rising 3 percent for the week.

 

Both indexes had earlier hit their highest intraday levels since Aug. 21.

(Reporting by Himank Sharma)