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Sensex gains 566 points as IT stocks surge, AI optimism offsets tariff woes

The Sensex ended the session at 76,405, up 566 points, or 0.75 per cent. The Nifty 50 index closed at 23,155, gaining 131 points, or 0.6 per cent

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Sundar Sethuraman Mumbai

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A combination of optimism about more artificial intelligence (AI) spending under US President Donald Trump, which offset uncertainties over his tariff policy, and gains in top-weight HDFC Bank helped the domestic equity benchmarks to end with gains on Wednesday.
 
The Sensex ended the session at 76,405, with a gain of 566 points, or 0.75 per cent. The Nifty 50 index closed at 23,155, with a gain of 131 points, or 0.6 per cent. The broader markets, however, continued to witness selling pressure, with the Nifty Midcap100 declining 1.3 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 1.6 per cent.
 
 
The market breadth was weak, with 2,802 stocks declining and 1,142 advancing on the BSE. The total market capitalisation of the BSE-listed firms declined by Rs 2.2 trillion to Rs 422 trillion. So far this month, the total market capitalisation declined by Rs 20.1 trillion.
 
Infosys, which rose 3.2 per cent, was both the best-performing Sensex stock and the biggest contributor to the index gains. TCS was the second-performing Sensex stock and the third biggest contributor to Sensex gains. The IT majors rose after President Trump announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for artificial intelligence on Tuesday. 
 
The index gains were also boosted by the rise in HDFC Bank's share after the private lender announced its quarterly results, which were in line with market expectations. Indian equities have seen selling pressure over the last few months amid disappointment over earnings and selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). FPIs have sold shares worth Rs 58,076 crore so far this year, according to National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) data.
 
"Banking stocks will be in focus after HDFC Bank's earnings beat market expectations and brought some cheer to the banking index in today's last hour of trading. The management commentary and future guidance from HDFC Bank will be closely tracked. Also, the FMCG space could witness some action tomorrow as HUL released its Q3 numbers post-market closing. We expect markets to trade within a broad range in the near term, tracking global cues and quarterly performance of domestic companies," said Siddhartha Khemka, head - research, and wealth management of Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

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First Published: Jan 22 2025 | 7:18 PM IST

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