In the early hours of Friday's trading session, benchmark equity indices experienced a robust surge propelled by a rally in information technology (IT) stocks and a positive trend observed in Asian markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex demonstrated an impressive leap of 492.71 points, reaching 72,213.89, while the Nifty recorded a climb of 141.95 points, reaching 21,789.15.
Despite Infosys reporting a 7.3% dip in net profit for the December quarter due to sluggish client demand and a reduction in its annual sales forecast, the stock witnessed a notable surge of over 6% in early trade. Similarly, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) experienced a nearly 4% climb after reporting an 8.2% growth in net income for the same quarter, amounting to Rs 11,735 crore. TCS's robust performance in the domestic market compensated for the impact of a 3% decline in the US market. Other significant gainers in early trade included Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, and JSW Steel. Conversely, Mahindra and Mahindra, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Nestle, Hindustan Unilever, and Titan faced declines.
Analysts noted that IT stocks were likely to witness increased activity following Infosys' inline results and TCS's better-than-expected performance. Despite a lack of positive signals in the management commentary, the market seemed poised to respond positively due to the absence of adverse developments, according to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
While Asian markets, including Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, exhibited upward trends, Seoul reported a slight dip. The US markets concluded mostly in positive territory on Thursday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude also experienced an uptick, rising by 1.82% to reach USD 78.82 per barrel.
However, concerns lingered as US Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation inched up to 3.4% year-on-year, presenting a somewhat negative outlook from the global equity market perspective. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities amounting to Rs 865 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data. In the previous session, the BSE benchmark rose by 0.09%, settling at 71,721.18, while the Nifty gained 0.13%, reaching 21,647.20.
