India equity benchmark -- Nifty ended higher on Friday amid ease in geopolitical tensions as US-Iran diplomatic talk helps ease crude prices. After making a flat-to-positive start, index gained traction and traded higher during morning deals, led by buying in private bank and cement stocks. Some support also came in markets as US Ambassador Sergio Gor said that the US looking forward to sealing the proposed bilateral trade agreement with India that will facilitate expanding market access, reduce barriers, and create greater certainty for businesses. Further, traders took support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that investment commitments from American companies in the last six months are estimated to exceed $60 billion, including major data centre investments by firms such as Amazon and Google. In afternoon session, market continued its firm trade near day’s high level. However, in last leg of the session, market pared some of its gain as market participants opted to book profit at higher level. Finally, Nifty ended above 23,700 mark.
