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Sensex Rises Over 100 Points Led By 2% Gains In TCS, Infosys

Sensex Rises Over 100 Points Led By 2% Gains In TCS, Infosys

The stock markets started Friday's note on a positive note, with the Sensex rising 147 points. National Stock Exchange (NSE) benchmark index rose 46 points to 10,560. Gains were led by banking, finance, IT and energy stocks. Indian Oil, GAIL India, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Infosys were among the top gainers on the 50-scrip index Nifty. Equities in other Asian markets were slightly weaker amid fragile market sentiment after US President Donald Trump called off a key summit with North Korea, though investor concerns were softened by expectations the two countries may still continue dialogue.

IT stocks jumped with the Nifty IT sectoral index rising 1.2 per cent in morning deals. Among other IT stocks, HCL Tech rose 1.3 per cent while Tech Mahindra went up 0.7 per cent.

Prasana Pathak, fund manager at Taurus Mutual fund, said there had been a positive surprise on earnings growth front for IT companies. "Also, the rupee depreciation should benefit them. Most of these companies are zero-debt companies and valuations are reasonable. Hence, we expect the IT sector outperformance to continue in the short term to medium term," he said.

Bank of Baroda rose 1.7 per cent and HDFC Bank 0.9 per cent. SBI, however, was trading in the negative zone, down 0.8 per cent.

State-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, BPCL and HPCL were trading with gains of 1.2-2.8 per cent each.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked down. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.65 per cent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3 per cent. Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended 0.2 per cent lower, though it clawed back a large part of its earlier loss of 0.95 per cent.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,480.51 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 701.93 crore on Thursday, provisional data showed.

The Sensex had risen by 318 points to close at 34,663 on Thursday, while the Nifty settled 83 points higher at 10,513.