Markets continue firm trades, IT majors lead

IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro up 2-11% negates the losses in pockets like M&M, ONCG and ITC

Markets continue to edge higher in the noon deals on the back of buying in IT heavyweights like Infosys, TCS along with Reliance Industries. At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was up 165 points at 19,840 and the Nifty gained 33 points at 5,968. The uptrend in today’s trade came in the wake of good set of first quarter earnings from software major Infosys.

Infosys has reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 2,374 crore against an average analysts estimates of Rs 2,296 crore for the first quarter ended June 2013 (Q1). The company has retained its 6-10% US Dollar revenue growth guidance for FY2014.

However, the broader markets were in the red with both the mid and smallcap indices slipping 0.1% each, underperforming as compared to the 0.8% gain on the BSE benchmark index.

Investors in Asian stocks turned cautious on Friday even after a record close on Wall Street, and a decline in the dollar paused as markets braced for Chinese data that could offer telling evidence of weakness in the world's second biggest economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was essentially flat on Friday. Yet after three straight sessions of solid gains, it was on track to end up more than 3% for the week, its best since September.

Tokyo's Nikkei added 0.2%, South Korea's KOSPI eased 0.7%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.5% and China's mainland shares shed 0.8%.

Back home, even though the markets were trading higher, Bankex, Metal, FMCG, Auto, PSU, Realty and Consumer Durables indices were in the red, losing 0.2-1.6%.

Among the ones in the green, IT and Teck indices were up between 4-6% along with Capital Goods, Health Care, Oil & Gas and Power indices which moved up 0.07-1.2%.

The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro up 2-11% followed by L&T, Dr Reddys Lab, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel up 1-1.7%.

Meanwhile, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, ITC, SBI and Sterlite were down 1-3%.

The market breadth was negative. 1,072 stocks declined while 931 stocks advanced on the BSE.