Stock Market: Sensex gains 135 pts, Nifty above 25,050; TCS earnings in focus

Domestic equity benchmarks, the Sensex and Nifty, opened higher on Thursday, tracking gains in global markets as tensions in the Middle East eased. Investor sentiment also remained upbeat ahead of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) earnings, with India’s largest IT services company set to report its quarterly results later in the day.

At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex climbed 132.10 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 81,905.76, after rising nearly 135 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty gained 7.80 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 25,053.95, after touching a day’s high of 25,085.50.

Among Sensex stocks, Tata Steel led the gainers, rising 1.63 per cent to Rs 174.65. Eternal shares gained 1.01 per cent, while M&M, Sun Pharma and HCL Tech rose 0.90 per cent, 0.82 per cent and 0.78 per cent, respectively.

In overnight trade, the S&P 500 climbed 0.58 per cent to 6,753.72, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2 per cent to 23,043.38, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased to 46,601.78.

Asian markets traded higher on Thursday, led by gains in Japan. The Nikkei 225 advanced 1.21 per cent to 48,324.29, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.01 per cent to 26,833.35.

On Wednesday, the Sensex declined 153.09 points, or 0.19 per cent, to close at 81,773.66, while the Nifty fell 62.15 points, or 0.25 per cent, to settle at 25,046.15.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the earnings season kicking off today will be closely watched by investors. “IT stocks have witnessed some recovery from the bottom, but the headwinds for the segment continue to be strong,” Vijayakumar said.

“Banking stocks have largely remained range bound on muted earnings expectations. The NIM pressure and rising delinquencies in the unsecured loan segments will weigh on banking results generally,” Vijayakumar said.

O’verall Q2 earnings are likely to remain pedestrian and, therefore, the market will be looking more at the developments in the real market for goods like automobiles and consumer electronics. There are encouraging reports of robust demand for these goods and this will translate into good results from Q3 and beyond. Digital platform companies have been displaying resilience in recent days,” Vijayakumar added.