IT stocks top gainers on BSE, NSE as rupee hits six-month low

The information technology (IT) stocks were the top gainers on BSE and NSE on Thursday with the Indian currency trading near its six-month low. IT stocks closed higher ahead of IT firm Infosys declaring its earnings tomorrow, marking the beginning of the Q4 earnings season.

At 14:38 hours, the rupee fell to 65.37 level to the dollar following increased demand for the American currency from banks and importers.

Moreover, the US dollar's gains against some currencies overseas, on surging crude oil prices and growing geopolitical uncertainties, weighed on the domestic unit, forex dealers said.

The BSE IT index was the top gainer among the 19 sectoral indexes, rising 3.50% or 432 points to 12,757 level. The index closed at 12,717 level, up 3.18% at 12,717 level.

Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech rose 3.73%, 3.83%, 3.10% and 4.12%, respectively.

The Indian currency has been witnessing weakness for the last three days. On April 10, the rupee staged a mild recovery of 3 paise to end at 64.99 against the dollar amid easing of US-China trade war fears.

On April 11, the rupee fell to 65.11 against the US dollar in opening trade. It closed at 65.31 level to a dollar, a level last seen on November 16, 2017.

Consequently, the BSE IT index gained 597 points during the last three trading sessions.

The Nifty IT index gained 643 points to hit an intra day high of 13,219 today. The index settled at 13,171 level gaining 595 points or 4.73%.  HCL  Tech, TCS and Infosys were the top gainers on the index.

Meanwhile, Motilal Oswal in its earnings preview said technology firms were likely to put a good show in last quarter of the previous fiscal.

"Technology is expected to report its first double digit PAT growth (10.9%) after eight quarters, with Persistent systems (-16.4%) being the only IT company expected to report PAT de-growth. In 4Q, YoY revenue trajectory is likely to continue to inch up. We expect such acceleration in Infosys, TCS and Tech Mahindra, and also organically for Wipro - across our top-tier universe," the report said.