By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M

Indian shares rose on Friday, led by information technology stocks, after a softer-than-expected U.S. jobs report eased concerns about near-term Federal Reserve rate hikes and lifted risk appetite for emerging markets.

The Nifty 50 NSE:NIFTY rose 0.69% to 24,344.7, while the Sensex BSE:SENSEX gained 0.67% to 78,020.93 as of 10:31 a.m. IST.

Both indexes are up 1.3% this week, on track for a fourth consecutive weekly gain, largely helped by lower oil prices and steps to support the rupee and foreign inflows.

Other Asian markets also advanced following the U.S. jobs data.

Lower U.S. interest rates typically support capital flows into emerging markets such as India, while also aiding growth and client spending in the U.S., a key market for Indian IT companies.

IT index NSE:CNXIT climbed 1.6%, turning positive for the week and putting it on course to snap a five-week losing streak.

Still, it remains down 27.6% year-to-date, making it the biggest drag on the Nifty 50, which has fallen about 7% over the same period.

"Since IT stocks were oversold after the recent slump, value buying is also occurring in several frontline technology stocks ahead of first-quarter earnings announcements next week," said Ankur Punj, managing director and business head at Equirus Wealth.

Fourteen of the 16 major sectoral indexes advanced. The broader small-caps NSE:CNXSMALLCAP and mid-caps NSE:CNXMIDCAP gained 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Metal index NSE:CNXMETAL rose 1.3%, aided by a weaker dollar and softer U.S. rate-hike bets.

Pharma stocks NSE:CNXPHARMA gained 1.4%, supported by sustained buying in the defensive sector seen as relatively insulated from crude-price volatility and weak monsoon risks.

Among stocks, HCLTech NSE:HCLTECH surged 4% after announcing a $1.14 billion strategic partnership with a European firm.

Retailer D-Mart NSE:DMART fell 4.5% after brokerages flagged slower June-quarter sales growth following its operational update.

PB Fintech NSE:POLICYBZR dropped 6.5% after multiple block deals at a discount.