Stock market today: Indian benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, witnessed a sharp rise on Friday following the impressive December quarter results of IT giants TCS and Infosys. Despite concerns over weak global markets and higher-than-expected US inflation data, investor sentiment remained unaffected.
Stock market today: Indian benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, witnessed a significant surge on Friday, with the
Sensex rallying over 900 points and the Nifty breaking its previous all-time
high. The 50-share pack index reached a peak of over 21,928, led by gains in
heavyweights TCS and Infosys.BSE Sensex closed the trading day at 72,568.45, up
847 points or 1.18%
Nifty50 too was up 1.14% or 247 points at 21,894.55. While
BSE Sensex hit an intraday high of 72,720.96, Nifty50 saw a high of 21,928.
In dollar terms, the Indian stock market is now valued at around $4.49 trillion,
positioning itself to potentially surpass Hong Kong as the world's
fourth-largest hub of equities, according to an ET report.
The Nifty IT sector emerged as the top gainer,
surging by about 5%, with Infosys gaining around 8% and Coforge by 5%. Other IT stocks such as Tech Mahindra, Wipro, TCS, Mphasis,
and LTIMindtree also experienced gains of about 4% each. The market rally was
primarily triggered by the strong buying interest in IT stocks following the
inline results of Infosys and the positive surprise from TCS. Experts predict
that the recent quarters' strong deal wins will gradually translate into
revenue in the coming quarters, further strengthening the sector.
The sustainability of this rally will depend on the ongoing
December quarter earnings season, which is expected to be a crucial factor
driving market returns in the near term. The recent substantial increase in the
shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) has also provided support to the index.
Additionally, market participants will closely monitor the HDFC Bank results on
January 16th for insights into the direction of Bank Nifty.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at
Geojit Financial Services stated that the resilience in IT stocks and strength
in Reliance will enable Nifty to consolidate around 21,600 levels. HDFC Bank
results on January 16th will be keenly watched by the market for cues in the
direction of Bank Nifty.
The US Department of Labor's consumer price
index (CPI), a crucial indicator of inflation, showed a 3.4% increase compared
to the previous year, surpassing November's figure.
While the US market remained relatively
unchanged due to higher-than-expected inflation, Japan's Nikkei share average
reached a new 34-year peak on Friday, influencing positive sentiments in the
Indian market.
The US CPI inflation inching up to 3.4% YoY is
slightly negative from the global equity market perspective. The rate cut
expected from the US Fed in March this year may not materialize. It is likely
to be postponed to June, and therefore, rate cuts by the MPC will also get
delayed, said Vijayakumar.
Wall Street equities closed with little change
after data revealed that headline CPI rose above estimates at 0.3% in December,
resulting in an annual gain of 3.4%.
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