Sensex surges 1,005 pts, Nifty above 24,150; IT shares rally

The headline equity benchmarks traded with robust gains in early afternoon trade, supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and robust earnings from heavyweight lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, both of which hit record highs and lifted overall sentiment in the banking sector. The Nifty climbed above the 24,150 mark. IT shares extended gains for the five consecutive trading sessions.

All eyes will also be on the upcoming Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), set to take place from April 2126 in Washington, D.C. On the agenda: the ripple effects of trade tensions on global growth and updates on the progress of the World Bank and IMF's initiatives.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, zoomed 1,004.71 points or 1.28% to 79,549.13. The Nifty 50 index added 321.90 points or 1.35% to 24,171.15.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index jumped 2.01% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.56%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,791 shares rose and 1,091 shares fell. A total of 194 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.87% to 15.60. The Nifty 24 April 2025 futures were trading at 24,140, at a discount of 31.15 points as compared with the spot at 24,171.15.

The Nifty option chain for the 24 April 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 172.4 lakh contracts at the 25,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 103.4 lakh contracts was seen at 23,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index added 3.04% to 34,388.05. The index jumped 5.75% in the five consecutive trading sessions.

Tech Mahindra (up 5.46%), Mphasis (up 5.13%), Coforge (up 4.7%), LTIMindtree (up 3.65%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 3.41%), HCL Technologies (up 2.92%), Infosys (up 2.54%), Persistent Systems (up 2.37%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.29%) and Wipro (up 1.22%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

ICICI Bank rose 0.51%. The bank reported a standalone net profit of Rs 12,629.58 crore in Q4 FY25, up 17.95% as against Rs 10,707.53 crore posted in Q4 FY24. Total income increased 14% YoY to Rs 49,690.87 crore in Q4 FY25.

Meanwhile, the banks board recommended a dividend of Rs 11 per equity share of face value of 2 each, subject to requisite approvals. The dividend on equity shares will be paid after the same is approved by the members at the ensuing annual general meeting (AGM) of the bank.

Dynacons Systems & Solutions surged 7.16% after the company secured a digital workplace solutions contract from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) worth Rs 138.44 crore.

One Mobikwik Systems rose 1.17% after the company announced a strategic partnership with Poonawalla Fincorp, a non-banking financial company (NBFC) promoted by the Cyrus Poonawalla Group.

Divis Laboratories climbed 3.71% after the company said it inked a long-term manufacturing and supply agreement with a leading global pharmaceutical company.

RailTel Corporation of India advanced 2.55% after the company announced that it had received a work order from UTI Infrastructure Technology & Services for managed cloud services worth Rs 19.84 crore.

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