Sensex, Nifty: Why stock market is rising today; Infosys Q3, trade deal & more

Benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rose on Friday, ending a two-day losing streak. The gain, following a public holiday, was led by Infosys, which alone contributed to half of the increase. Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) also supported the indices.

Adding to the sentiment was reports suggesting the European Union will formalise its largest-ever trade deal with India on January 27. The market shrugged off reports of the delas in US Supreme Court ruling on legality of Trump tariffs. As there is no timeline for a ruling, such an event is unlikely to influence the market in the near-term, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

"Better-than-expected results will trigger stock-specific action but these are unlikely to take the market as a whole to significantly higher levels," Vijayakumar said.

At 10.25 am, Sensex was trading at 84,022.67, up 639.96 points or 0.77 per cent. Nifty rose 188.55 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 25,854.15. Infosys climbed 5.21 per cent to Rs 1,682.40. Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra and HCL Tech rose 3.76 per cent, 2.07 per cent and 1.94 per cent, respectively. Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance rose 1.4 per cent each.

"While the evolving crisis in the Middle East will be closely monitored, particularly for any potential disruption to oil supplies and the resulting impact on prices, today’s market action is expected to remain largely stock-specific, driven by December-quarter earnings announcements and management commentary," said Ponmudi R, CEO at Enrich Money.

Vijayakumar said even minor rallies from here on are likely to be neutralised by FII selling. "The increasing short positions being built by FIIs indicate that sustained FII selling is likely to be the near-term trend, till such time we have a trend reversal triggered by positive news or events. For long-term investors, the directionless weak drift in the market provides opportunities to slowly accumulate high quality growth stocks available at fair valuations."

Shrikant Chouhan, Head for Equity Research at Kotak Securities said Nifty could move up to 25,880-25,900 levels and Sensex 84,000-84,200 levels.

"On the flip side, below 25,600/83,200, selling pressure is likely to accelerate. If it falls below this level, it could retest the levels of 25,500-25,450/83,000-82,800," it said.