Indian shares drift higher; SBI climbs over 6%

India shares edged higher on Friday, led by gains in engineering firm Larsen and Toubro and lenders such as State Bank of India.

Nifty
A broker reacts while trading at his computer terminal at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai, India. REUTERS

India shares edged higher on Friday, led by gains in engineering firm Larsen and Toubro and lenders such as State Bank of India.

Asian shares slipped on Friday on uncertainty about U.S. tax reforms.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 lost 0.38 percent while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.58 percent.

U.S. Republican Senators said they want to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s, Reuters reported.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.19 percent at 33,314 while the broader NSE Nifty gained 0.06 percent to 10,321.

Among the top Sensex gainers, Larsen and Toubro rose 4.4 percent, State Bank of India advanced 6.2 percent, ICICI Bank gained 2.3 percent while Bajaj Auto was up 2 percent.

State Bank of India reported a second-quarter net profit of Rs1,582 crore, missing estimates, on higher provisions for bad loans.

L&T shares gained after its construction unit received orders worth Rs4023 crore across various business segments.

Divi's Laboratories advanced 0.5 percent after the company said the U.S. food and drug regulator has completed evaluation of corrective action and that it has closed out warning letter.

Just Dial jumped 8 percent amidst news report said that Google is said in talks to acquire the company.

But Bharat Petroleum Corp 1.7 percent ahead of its earnings due later in the day.

Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declined.

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