IT Stock Boom Propels Market To New Lifetime Highs; Sensex Soars Over 850 Points

The benchmark market indices Sensex and Nifty rose more than 1 percent to new all-time highs on Friday, fueled by a strong rally in IT companies after TCS and Infosys reported better-than-expected financial results.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 847.27 points, or 1.18 percent, to reach a record closing high of 72,568.45. During the day, it climbed 999.78 points, or 1.39 percent, to set a new intra-day high of 72,720.96.

The Nifty soared 247.35 points, or 1.14 percent, to close at a lifetime high of 21,894.55. During the day, it gained 281.05 points, or 1.29 percent, to set a new intra-day record high of 21,928.25.

Infosys rose more than eight percent after the company’s December quarter earnings met market expectations.

Tata Consultancy Services grew almost four percent after the largest software exporter reported an 8.2 percent rise in net income for the December quarter at Rs 11,735 crore, driven by massive growth in the domestic market that offset to a large extent the impact of a 3 percent drop in the US market.

Other notable gainers included Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Wipro, State Bank of India, and Larsen & Toubro.

Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, and HDFC Bank were among the underperformers.

Wipro and HCLTech, two prominent IT companies, will report their financial results later today.

Tokyo settled higher in Asian markets, while Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong all closed lower.

The European markets were trading in positive territory.

On Thursday, US markets ended mostly in the green.

Brent crude surged 2.49 percent to USD 79.34 per barrel.

According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 865 crore worth of stocks on Thursday.

The BSE benchmark jumped 63.47 points, or 0.09 percent, to 71,721.18 on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 28.50 points, or 0.13 percent, to 21,647.20.

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