sensex news today: Market Wrap: Sensex gains 115 pts, Nifty above 23,200 as IT and pharma stocks lift D-Street

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The Indian benchmark indices ended in the green on Thursday, buoyed by a surge in IT stocks, driven by optimism around increased artificial intelligence (AI) spending in the US.

The rally was further supported by gains in pharma stocks and late strength in UltraTech Cement, whose net profit for the December quarter exceeded Dalal Street expectations.

The benchmark BSE Sensex added 115.39 points or 0.15% to close at 76,520.38, while the broader Nifty 50 index closed at 23,205.35, higher by 50 points or 0.22%.

Sector Watch

Nifty IT closed 1.8% higher, with the IT index surging 4% over two sessions, fuelled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of $500 billion AI infrastructure spending on Tuesday, benefiting a sector that derives a significant portion of its revenue from the United States.

A post-results rally in tech firms Coforge and Persistent Systems, which rose 11.8% and 10.6%, respectively, also contributed to the sector’s gains. IT giant Wipro climbed 2.8%, ranking among the top Nifty 50 gainers.

Among individual stocks, UltraTech Cement, India’s largest cement maker by capacity, rose 6.8% after reporting third-quarter earnings above expectations, driven by strong volume growth.Meanwhile, BPCL, India’s largest refiner, fell by about 2.3% after missing December-quarter profit estimates due to lower margins and losses in its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) segment. Hindustan Unilever dropped around 1% after projecting near-term margins at the lower end of its forecast range, citing a slowdown in urban demand.

Expert Take

Markets were range-bound with a mixed bias intra-day and ended slightly higher on Thursday as investors resorted to select buying in the beaten-down IT, telecom and realty shares, said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities.

“The sharp fall in rupee against the dollar, which has been fuelling foreign fund outflows over the past few months, is making investors jittery. With the ongoing corporate earnings outcome not so encouraging so far, and Budget round the corner, investors will play safe bets with a selective buying approach and mostly at global markets for cues,” Tapse added.

Global Markets

Global stocks eased on Thursday, reversing a rally sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive spending plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure, as some of the initial excitement faded. However, Chinese shares performed better, supported by Beijing’s backing.

In Europe, the STOXX 600, which had reached a record high on Wednesday, dipped 0.1%, weighed down by a decline in technology stocks that had surged the previous day following Trump’s announcement of a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure investment plan.

In Asian markets, Chinese stocks briefly rallied by more than 1% after the government revealed plans to direct hundreds of billions of yuan from state-owned insurers into equities, shortly after Trump proposed a 10% punitive tariff on Chinese imports. The CSI300 blue-chip index eventually pared some of those gains, closing up 0.18%.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei rose by 0.8%, but Hong Kong stocks reversed early gains to end 0.4% lower.



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