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NEW DELHI: Rally in IT, private bank, financial and auto stocks helped equity benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex log gains for a sixth consecutive session on Thursday.
The market remained rangebound in the morning session ahead of the release of industrial production and retail inflation numbers later in the day.
However, the afternoon session rise in buying interest amid optimism about a decent earnings season, which will begin with Infosys coming out with their numbers for the March quarter.
The Nifty50 settled 42 points, or 0.40 per cent, up at 10,459, while Sensex closed 161 points, or 0.47 per cent, up at 34,101.
“Nifty ended with modest gains and settled around the day's high, thanks to firm local cues.
It opened flat but noticeable buying interest in IT majors pushed the index gradually higher.
Also, the news of encouraging FDI inflows in India boosted the sentiment.
However, caution ahead of the important macroeconomic data viz.
IIP and CPI inflation capped the momentum,” said Jayant Manglik, President, Religare Broking.
“IT index single-handedly pushed the benchmark higher and it's indeed positive sign before the Infosys results.
However, a word of caution is still recommended, considering the mixed undertone from the global markets.
Nifty should hold above 10,400 for further recovery and now the next major hurdle is at 10,600,” he added.
Broader BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed benchmark Sensex, closing 0.13 per cent and 0.27 per cent, down, respectively.
The day belonged to IT stocks.
HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra led the pack of gainers, surging up to 4 per cent on Thursday.
IT stocks rallied on fresh weakness in the rupee along with the anticipation of positive quarterly earnings.
Besides IT, private sector banks, including Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, appeared among top gainers in Sensex index.
However, PSU banks such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank slipped up to 1 per cent on Thursday.
IDBI Bank declined over 1 per cent on Thursday after the lender post market hours on Wednesday informed bourses that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slapped a monetary penalty of Rs 3 crore on the bank for non-compliance to the Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms.
Shares of Dish TV surged over 8 per cent after the promoter group entities of Dish TV made an offer to buy an additional 26 per cent equity stake from public shareholders.
Recent gainers, metal stocks also stood among the top gainers of the day.
Barring Nalco, all components in the BSE Metal index settled in the red, with SAIL and Vedanta falling 3.84 per cent and 2.46 per cent, respectively.
European traded in the green, although investors remained cautious on worries over US military action in Syria, Reuters reported.
