Sharp rally in IT stocks push indices to record highs; Sensex breaches 73,000 milestone

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices hit record peaks in early trade on Monday, with the Sensex breaching the 73,000 milestone for the first time ever and the Nifty surging past the historic 22,000-mark, driven by a sharp rally in IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 720.33 points to reach an all-time peak of 73,288.78 in early trade. The Nifty also breached the 22,000 milestone, climbing 187.4 points to reach a lifetime high of 22,081.95.

Among the Sensex firms, Wipro zoomed nearly 11 per cent even as the IT company on Friday posted 11.74 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,694.2 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2023.

The other prominent gainers were Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank.

HCL Technologies on Friday reported 6.2 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,350 crore, highest ever on a quarterly basis, in the three months ended December 2023 on the back of growth in both services and software businesses.

Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, NTPC and Asian Paints were among the laggards.

"The rally in the market, primarily driven by momentum, is now getting support from fundamentals. The sharp bounce in large cap IT stocks on the back of slightly positive management commentary indicates that an underperforming segment can surprise on the upside on news of a turnaround in the sector.

"The IT index, which shot up by 5 per cent on Friday will remain firm since HCL Tech and Wipro have more room on the upside," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai were trading in the green while Hong Kong quoted marginally lower.

The US markets ended on a muted note on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.24 per cent to USD 78.48 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 340.05 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. PTI