Indices off day's high; IT stocks gain

Benchmark indices came off the day's high and traded with small gains in morning trade. The Nifty slipped below the crucial 11,300 mark. IT stocks extended recent gains as rupee further depreciated in foreign exchange market.

At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 120.63 points or 0.31% at 38,572.74. The Nifty 50 index was up 34.95 points or 0.31% at 11,285.95.

The broader market was negative. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.12% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.24%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was almost even. On the BSE, 877 shares rose and 869 shares fell. A total of 98 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, the market breadth was positive with 36 stocks advancing and 16 stocks declining.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index was up 1.15% to 16,046.50. The index has risen 5.48% in four trading days.

HCL Technologies (up 2.73%), MphasiS (up 1.6%), TCS (up 1.19%), Tata Elxsi (up 0.98%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.6%), Infosys (up 0.52%) and Zensar Technologies (up 0.3%) were top gainers in IT segment.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.47, compared with its close of 73.3975 during the previous trading session.

A weak rupee boosts revenues of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Deepak Nitrite informed that the board of the company has approved an investment, not exceeding 20% equity capital, in Deepak Oman Industries FZC LLC (DOIL), aggregating to approximately $7.71 million. The investment is in the Greenfietd project and the investment would be done in two to three years' time, the company said in an exchange filing made after market hours yesterday. Shares of Deepak Nitrite were trading 0.44% lower at Rs 519.8.

Reliance Industries (RIL) 0.87%. RIL informed that its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) has acquired 7,86,191 equity shares representing 100% of the equity share capital of Shri Kannan Departmental Store (SKDS). The stake acquisition is for a consideration of Rs 152.5 crore.

Andhra Bank rose 0.61% to Rs 13.11 after the bank said it raised Rs 200 crore by issuing 11.10 crore shares to the Government of India. Following the allotment, the government's holding in the bank has increased to 88.25% from 87.81% (as on 31 December 2019).

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