Bengaluru, Jan 19 (The Street Press India) – Indian stocks made a comeback on Friday, breaking a three-day losing trend. The boost was driven by a recovery in financial and information technology stocks. The NSE Nifty 50 rose by 0.91% to 21,657.45 points, and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.91% to reach 71,835 as of 10:30 a.m. IST.
Over the past three sessions, both benchmarks had dropped nearly 3%, mainly influenced by leading private lender HDFC Bank and its lower third-quarter margins. HDFC Bank shares, which had fallen approximately 11.5% in the last two sessions, saw a 0.5% gain on the day. The financial services index showed a positive trend, advancing by 1.2%.
Before its Saturday results, ICICI Bank gained 2.2%, while Axis Bank, set to reveal its earnings on Tuesday, added 2.5%. IT stocks rose by 0.9% following robust U.S. labor market data, instilling confidence in a stable trajectory for the world’s largest economy. This is crucial for IT companies as a substantial part of their revenue comes from the U.S.
Mayuresh Joshi, Head of Equity Research India at William O’Neil and Company, stated, “While the resilience in U.S. economy could delay a Federal Reserve rate cut, the rising probability of a soft landing implies that the worst is probably over for IT sector.” Joshi added that the outlook for Indian markets is optimistic, with near-term direction being influenced by earnings.
Titan Company surged 2% following CLSA’s upward revision of its target price, with optimistic expectations for Titan’s Tanishq brand’s strong pricing power. Poonawalla Fincorp showed a notable 3% advancement, propelled by a remarkable 76.3% year-on-year growth in net profit for the December quarter.
Investors are eagerly anticipating the results of Reliance Industries, a diversified conglomerate in oil-to-telecom, scheduled for release after market hours on Friday. Despite being the second-heaviest Nifty 50 stock, it experienced a slight decline of 0.33%.
