SENSEX, NIFTY50 erase early gains; IT stocks rebound led by Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech

The Indian equity benchmarks erased early gains on Thursday, February 19, ahead of weekly expiry of SENSEX futures and option contracts. The SENSEX fell as much as 417 points from the day's highest level and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 25,776 after hitting a high of 25,885 dragged down by selling pressure in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, InterGlobe Aviation, ICICI Bank and Bharat Electronics.

As of 9:47 am, the SENSEX was down 114 points at 83,620 and NIFTY50 index dropped 41 points to 25,778.

Asian markets were trading higher following a rebound in US stocks. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 1% and South Korea's KOSPI surged nearly 3% to a record high.

Overnight, US stocks ended higher on Wednesday powered by gains in Nvidia.

S&P 500 index advanced 0.56%, tech heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.8% and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%.

Nvidia helped lift the market and climbed 1.6% after Meta Platforms announced a long-term partnership where it will use millions of chips and other equipment from Nvidia for its artificial-intelligence data centres.

Back home, eight of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY IT index's 1% gain. Metal, Pharma, Auto, PSU Bank, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.1%-0.4%.

On the other hand, NIFTY Bank, Private Bank, Financial Services, Consumer Durables and Media indices were trading with a negative bias.

Broader markets were trading on a subdued note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 0.02% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.13%.

ONGC was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock advanced 2% to ₹270. Eicher Motors, HCL Technologies, TCS, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Motors PV and Tech Mahindra rose between 0.8%-1.5%.

On the flipside, IndiGo, Kwality Wall's Asian Paints, Bharat Electronics, Adani Ports, Trent, Larsen & Toubro and ITC were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,372 shares were declining while 1,303 were advancing on the NSE.