Stock Market Today: Sensex, Nifty Register Longest Stretch Of Weekly Gains In Nearly Seven Months

• The local currency strengthened by 3 paise to close at 83.53 against the US dollar.

• It closed at 83.56 on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

Recovering from two-day decline, Indian benchmarks ended sharply higher as information technology stocks soared after Tata Consultancy Services surprised the street with expected profit.

The NSE Nifty 50 settled 186.20 points or 0.77% higher at 24,502.15, and the S&P BSE Sensex ended 622.00 points or 0.78% higher at 80,519.34.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Ltd., and Reliance Industries Ltd. were top gainers in the NSE Nifty 50 index.

On weekly basis, the benchmarks have recorded best stretch of gains in seven months.

During the day, the Nifty rose 1.14% to a fresh high of 24,592.20, and the Sensex jumped 1.25% to a record high of 80,893.51.

The Nifty 50 opened at 24,387.95, and the Sensex opened at 80,093,62.

"Multiple tailwinds led the market to come out of the range bound trajectory. The strong result from the IT bellwether and a drop in US inflation to a one-year low added optimism to the market," said Vinod Nair, head, research, Geojit Financial Services.

The chances of a rate cut in September are inching higher, which is evident in the fall of the dollar index. We expect stock-specific moves to gain traction due to the ongoing earnings season and upcoming budget; indeed, IT will be in the limelight due to the good start to the earnings and outlook, Nair said.

Indian benchmarks rose for six straight weeks, marking the best weekly winning streak since Dec 11, 2023. The Nifty 50 rose 0.73%, and Sensex rose 0.65%.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., and Axis Bank Ltd. added to the Nifty 50 index.

ICICI Bank Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., and Asian Paints Ltd. weighed on the index.

This week, six sectors advanced, six declined out of 12. The NSE Nifty FMCG emerged as the top performed, followed by the NSE Nifty IT. The NSE Nifty Metal led losses.

Broader markets underperformed benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap ended 0.22% and 0.13% lower, respectively.

On BSE, nine sectors advanced, and 11 sectors declined out of 20. The S&P BSE lead the gains, while the S&P BSE Realty declined the most.

Market breadth was skewed in favour of sellers. Around 2,233 stocks declined, 1,700 advanced, and 103 stocks remained unchanged.

• Bharat Electronics Ltd. has received an export order worth Euro 25.75 million from Thales Reliance Defence Systems.

Source: Exchange filing

• Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd. has received an order worth Rs 581 crore from ETSY Realcon for civil construction in Gurugram.

Source: Exchange filing

The Indian benchmark indices brushed off valuation concerns to scale past yet another life high on Friday, driven by the heavyweight technology stocks on positive earnings of IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

After opening higher, the NSE Nifty 50 surged past the key 24,500 level, while the S&P BSE Sensex surpassed the 80,500 mark. As of 11: 21 a.m., the Nifty was at 24,490, up 0.71% or 173 points, and the Sensex was at 80,442, down 0.69% or 570 points.

The benchmarks—Nifty and Sensex—recorded their best intraday surge in over a month by rising 1.14% and 1.25% respectively, the highest since June 7.

Traders will also eye the release of the key inflation and the industrial production print in India after the market hours.

IT companies added over Rs 1 lakh crore to investor wealth on Friday, after the Nifty IT rose to the highest level in over two years, led by Infosys Ltd. and TCS.

The software-technology giant's net profit declined 3.2% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 12,105 crore. Brokerages said that the catch-up rally for IT major's shares is on the horizon, but they remain wary as the management pointed out unchanged market conditions with the results announcement.

Shares of Infosys, TCS, Axis Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd. and HCL Technologies Ltd. helped the Nifty's surge.

While those of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., Divi's Laboratories Ltd., Asian Paints Ltd., and Hindalco Industries Ltd. weighed on the index.

Eight of the 12 sectors claimed higher in trade, with the IT media and the media index advancing the most by 3.64% and 2.55%, respectively. Nifty Realty fell the most.

The broader indices underperformed the benchmarks as the BSE MidCap fell by 0.22%, while the SmallCap rose by 0.06%.

Twelve out of the 20 sectoral indices on the BSE declined in the session, with Realty falling the most.

The market breadth was slightly skewed in the favour of the sellers as 1,862 stocks fell, 1,853 rose and 154 remained unchanged on the BSE.