Markets surge, IT zooms ahead of Infosys results

Markets trade firm on back of rally in IT stocks ahead of the Infosys quarter two earnings which will be reported on Friday. The Sensex has risen 225 points to 20,432 and the Nifty has climbed 73 points to 6163.

BSE IT index is the top gainer from the sectoral pack, the index is up 1.5% to 6,150. Infosys has surged 1.3% as marketmen expect the IT bellwether to report sequential growth. "Expect a 20-25 percent year-on-year growth and three to five percent sequential growth for Infosys, which will be in line with the market expectations. However, the stock will remain rangebound around current levels," DD Sharma, Senior Vice-President (Research), Anand Rathi Financial Services said. DD Sharma suggests that Investors should remain invested in frontline IT stocks for steady returns.

Other stocks from the IT space such as Oracle Finance and TCS have surged 2%, Tech Mahindra and Wipro have risen 1.8% and 1.5% each.

Most of the brokerages expect the upside for the markets to be capped in the near team. Emkay in a Research note said that Nifty channel break looks convincing on the technical charts, downside target 5950-6000 cannot be ruled out. Also India Infoline expect the market momentum to pick up around Diwali and sees the upside capped for now.

BSE Power index is a laggard in trade, the indix are trading flat, up 0.8%, NTPC, down 0.4% and Adani power, down 0.1% weighs on the index.

Broader markets are trading firm, midcap and smallcap indices are up 0.9% and 1.1% each.

Maruti Suzuki up 2.7%, followed by HDFC, up 2.5% and JP Associates, up 2% are the top gainers on Sensex.  

All the components on the Sensex are trading in the green except NTPC.

Market breadth is positive, 1972 stocks are advancing for 759 declining stocks.