Nifty scale above 25,000 level; IT shares in demand

The key equity indices traded with substantial gains in morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,000 level. IT shares advanced after declining in the past three consecutive trading sessions.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 601.63 points or 0.74% to 81,687.84. The Nifty 50 index advanced 179.65 points or 0.72% to 25,002.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.53% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.40%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,207 shares rose and 1,546 shares fell. A total of 195 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's forex reserves jumped by $4.546 billion to $674.664 billion during the week ended August 16, according to the latest RBI data.

In the previous week, the forex kitty had dropped by $4.8 billion to $670.119 billion. On August 2, the overall reserves hit an all-time high of $674.919 billion.

The foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $3.609 billion to $591.569 billion, the RBI data showed.

Gold reserves increased by $865 million to $60.104 billion during the week ended August 16. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were up by $60 million to $18.341 billion.

India's reserve position with the IMF was up by $12 million to $4.65 billion during the week, said the RBI.

New Listing:

Shares of Interarch Building Products were currently trading at Rs 1,241.60 at 10:15 IST on the BSE, representing a premium of 36.98% as compared with the issue price of Rs 900.

The scrip was listed at Rs 1,291.20, exhibiting a premium of 43.47% to the issue price.

So far, the stock has hit a high of 1,316 and a low of 1214.45. On the BSE, over 4.28 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter so far.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index gained 1.64% to 41,763.95. The index fell 1.16% in past three consecutive trading sessions.

Persistent Systems (up 3.23%), Mphasis (up 2.31%), Wipro (up 2.06%), Coforge (up 1.99%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.62%), LTIMindtree (up 1.51%), Infosys (up 1.18%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.1%), HCL Technologies (up 1.06%) and L&T Technology Services (up 0.89%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

KEC International jumped 3.52% after the company said that it has secured new orders of Rs 1,079 crore in transmission & distribution (T&D) and cables businesses.

Lemon Tree Hotels rose 0.57%. The company has signed a license agreement under its upscale brand, Aurika Hotels & Resorts, with Aurika, Surat in Gujarat.