BENGALURU, July 3 (Reuters) - 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 rose 0.69% to 24,344.7, while the 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. [MKTS/GLOB]

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 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 and mid-caps gained 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Metal index rose 1.3%, aided by a weaker dollar and softer U.S. rate-hike bets. [MET/L]

Pharma stocks 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 surged 4% after announcing a $1.14 billion strategic partnership with a European firm.

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

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

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Harikrishnan Nair)

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M