Sensex, Nifty trade with strong gains; IT shares rally for 2nd day

The domestic equity indices traded with significant gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,100 level. IT shares advanced for the second consecutive trading session.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 579.89 points or 0.71% to 81,959.43. The Nifty 50 index added 158.75 points or 0.64% to 25,123.25.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.22% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.10%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,028 shares rose and 1,959 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rose to 1.84% in September as food items, especially vegetables, turned costlier, as per the government data released on Monday. The inflation was 1.31% in August. It was (-)0.07% in September last year.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves dropped by $3.709 billion to $701.176 billion for the week ended October 4, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the reserves had jumped by $12.588 billion to an all-time high of $704.885 billion.

The foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $3.511 billion to $612.643 billion, the data released on Friday showed.

Gold reserves decreased by $40 million to $65.756 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by $123 million to $18.425 billion. India's reserve position with the IMF was down by $35 million to $4.352 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 1.41% to 42,934.40. The index gained 2% in the two trading session.

Wipro (up 3.99%), Mphasis (up 2.92%), Tech Mahindra (up 2.62%), Persistent Systems (up 2.6%), Infosys (up 1.39%), L&T Technology Services (up 1.07%), LTIMindtree (up 0.87%), Coforge (up 0.86%), HCL Technologies (up 0.82%) edged higher.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper advanced 1.49% to 6.889 as compared with previous close 6.788.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 84.0725, compared with its close of 84.1050 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 December 2024 settlement shed 0.01% to Rs 76,300.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.12% to 103.02.

The United States 10-year bond yield gained 0.86% to 4.107.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for November 2024 settlement lost $1.33 or 1.68% to $77.71 a barrel.

Stocks in spotlight:

Oriental Hotels rose 0.55%. The company's consolidated net profit increased 6.62% to Rs 8.38 crore in Q2 FY25 as against Rs 7.86 crore posted in Q2 FY24. Revenue from operations was at Rs 103.30 crore in second quarter of FY25, registering a growth of 13.48% year on year.

Vascon Engineers advanced 2.91% after it received letter of acceptance (LoA) worth Rs 57.23 crore from Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, Government of Maharashtra for construction of commercial building.