Sensex trades 350 points higher; Wipro, Infosys, TCS gain

Mumbai: After falling for four consecutive sessions, India’s benchmark Sensex rose over 350 points on Thursday, led by gains in shares of information technology and banking companies.

At 2.20pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex was up 1.24%, or 358.52 points, at 29,241.62 points, while the National Stock Exchange’s broader 50-share Nifty was up 1.2%, or 101.50 points, at 8,825.20 points.

Since 29 January, the Sensex has fallen over 800 points and foreign investors have sold equities worth Rs.1,750 crore, according to provisional data of BSE and NSE.

Information technologies companies were trading higher after Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. beat analysts’ sales forecasts in the three months ended 31 December, following strong services demand and a boost in revenue from its recent acquisition of US-based healthcare services provider TriZetto Corp. Wipro Ltd rose 4% to Rs.642, Infosys Ltd rose 3.6% to Rs.2,218.15 and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) rose 3% to Rs.2,590.

Banking companies were trading higher. Axis Bank Ltd rose 3.2% to Rs.577.10 and State Bank of India (SBI) rose 1.4% to Rs.297.20.

HDFC twins gained after HDFC Bank Ltd has started the process of raising Rs.10,000 crore from domestic qualified institutional investors and foreign investors after it received a formal approval from the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) earlier on Wednesday, four people familiar with the development said. The book for the domestic part of the issue has already opened, according to two of the four. Housing Development Corp. Ltd (HDFC) rose 4.5% to Rs.1,288.90 while HDFC Bank rose 2.2% to Rs.1,090.45.

Among the losers, Tata Power Co. Ltd fell 3.7% to Rs.86.90, Sesa Sterlite Ltd down 2.7% to Rs.210.75 and Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) fell 2.3% to Rs.359.75.

Among the sectoral indices, the IT index was the top sectoral gainer, up 3%, followed by the Teck index, which was up 2.4%. The Bankex and FMCG indices were up 1.3% each. BSE consumer durables index was the top sectoral loser, down 1.2% followed by BSE power and realty which were down 0.9% each. BSE metal and healthcare indices were down 0.6% and 0.4% respectively.

Oil marketing companies were trading higher after international oil was traded below $50 a barrel amid the most volatility since April 2009 as US crude stockpiles climbed to the highest level in more than three decades. Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) rose 6.3% to Rs.765.70, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) rose 3.1% to Rs.620.10 while Indian Oil Corp. Ltd rose 2.6% to Rs.344.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd rose 3.6% to Rs.1,063 after the company reported a 35% increase in its net profit to Rs.263.57 crore for the December quarter as compared to Rs.195.77 crore a year ago.

Tata Motors Ltd rose 1.5% to Rs.600.50 ahead of its December quarter earnings. A Bloomberg poll of 34 analysts estimated the company may post a consolidated net profit of Rs.4,972.6 crore on net sales of Rs.66,836.7 crore. On a standalone basis, according to three analysts, the company may post a net loss of Rs.945.9 crore while net sales will be Rs.8,609.9 crore.

Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd rose 9% to Rs.54.50 after The Economic Times reported that Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) and the Hero group have started separate discussions with the company’s promoters to purchase a 19% stake in the company that has facilities to build warships, submarines and liquefied natural gas carriers.

Aurobindo Pharma Ltd fell 3.8% to Rs.1,165 after the company reported a 7.93% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs.384.35 crore for the December quarter, compared with Rs.417.49 crore a year ago.

KEC International Ltd fell 8.9% to Rs.87.30 after the company reported 14.15% decline in net sales to Rs.1,586.79 crore in December quarter as compared to Rs.1,848.43 crore last year same quarter.

AIA Engineering Ltd, Allahabad Bank, Arvind Ltd, Ballarpur Industries Ltd, Birla Corp. Ltd, Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, Greaves Cotton Ltd, Greenply Industries Ltd, Indian Overseas Bank, JSW Energy Ltd, Jubilant Foodworks Ltd, UCO Bank and Vardhman Textiles Ltd are some of the companies that will release their earnings for the December quarter on Thursday.

So far in 2015, the Sensex has gained 4.88%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $2.75 billion from local equity markets and bought $4.42 billion from debt markets.