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Sensex, Nifty end higher; Aditya Birla Fashion surges on Flipkart deal

People walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai

By Chris Thomas

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares ended higher on Friday, driven by gains in auto stocks, while a 15 billion rupees investment from Walmart Inc's Flipkart pushed Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail up as much as 17%.

The Nifty rose 0.28% to 11,930.35, while the Sensex gained 0.31% at 40,685.50. For the week, both the indexes gained more than 1% each.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail gave up some early gains to close 7.5% higher at its best level since March 26 after Flipkart said it will buy a 7.8% stake in the company.

The Nifty Auto Index rose nearly 3%, with carmaker Maruti Suzuki up 4.3%, leading gains as well as acting as the top boost to the blue-chip Nifty 50 index.

"The market is precariously perched, fervently praying that the fiscal stimulus bill in the United States will be passed and that a torrent of liquidity will flow into global equity markets," said Ajay Bodke, chief executive officer and chief portfolio manager (PMS) at Prabhudas Lilladher in Mumbai.

Global stocks remained within a tight range on Friday, less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election, with traders looking for a breakthrough in stimulus talks in Washington.

"For the Nifty to go beyond 12,000, the earnings momentum needs to become far stronger."

Investors were awaiting earnings reports from Nifty components Nestle India Ltd and Tech Mahindra Ltd.

Corporate results this week, dominated by consumer goods firms, have been a mixed bag, although most expected a rise in demand going forward.

Credit card company SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd closed down 5.2%, having tumbled as much as 10% to a ten-week low, after reporting a lower profit and a sharp drop in asset quality in the September quarter.

Consumer electricals maker Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals jumped 14.8% after a surge in second-quarter profit.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas and NR Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)