Sensex, Nifty Edge Higher; Wipro Rallies After March Quarter Earnings

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Friday led by gains in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ITC. The Sensex rose as much as 194 points and Nifty 50 index briefly moved above its important psychological level of 14,600. Meanwhile, a batch of Chinese and U.S. economic data helped underpin global stocks near record highs on Friday, as investors priced in a solid global recovery from the coronavirus-induced slump.

In Asia, markets were largely steady after China reported a sharp acceleration in first quarter growth, though the reading slightly undershot expectations while retail sales bounced strongly last month.

Back home, nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty IT index's 0.65 per cent gain.

Auto, banking, metal and PSU banking shares were also witnessing buying interest.

On the other hand, pharma and realty shares were facing a mild selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were going strong as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.41 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.74 per cent.

Wipro was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 6 per cent to Rs 456.60 after it reported better-than-expected March quarter earnings. The IT services company on Thursday reported its consolidated profit at Rs 2,972 crore for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2020-21. The net profit grew by 28 per cent year-on-year. The company's revenue stood at Rs 16,334 crore for the same period. The revenue growth in constant currency stood at three per cent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020-21 and the topline growth in dollar terms was at 3.9 per cent.

UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Tata Consumer Products, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Bharat Petroleum, Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Divi's Labs, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,396 shares were advancing while 595 were declining on the BSE.