SENSEX, NIFTY50 indices edge higher led by recovery in IT stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Friday, May 15, defying weak trend in other Asian markets as sentiment turned improved after foreign institutional investors emerged net buyers, after days of relentless selling, in the previous session.

The SENSEX rose as much as 267 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,782 led by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies.

As of 9:28 am, the SENSEX was up 255 points at 75,654 and NIFTY50 index advanced 105 points to 23,794.

Asian markets were trading lower after crude oil prices advanced 1.4% to $107.24 per barrel triggering fears of inflation going ahead. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.94%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.03% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.03%.

Overnight, major US benchmarks closed at record highs after Cisco Systems surprised market participants by announcing better than anticipated earnings.

Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.75%, S&P 500 index gained 0.77% and tech heavy Nasdaq rose 0.9%.

Back home, foreign institutional investors resumed buying in Indian equities after days of relentless selling. The FIIs bought shares worth ₹187.46 crore on Thursday, data compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

10 of 15 sector gauges compiled by the NSE were trading higher led by the NIFTY IT index's 2.2% gain. NIFTY Media, Auto, Pharma, Private Bank, Financial Services and Healthcare indices also rose between 0.2% and 1%.

On the flip side, realty, metal, oil & gas, consumer durables and PSU bank shares were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.3% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index dropped 0.7%

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose as much as 8.3% to hit an intraday high of ₹366.95 after it turned profitable in March quarter.

Tata Motors PV said that it earned a consolidated net profit of ₹5,783 crore in the fourth quarter of financial year 2025-26 as against the loss of ₹3,486 crore in the previous quarter.

The Mumbai-based car maker's revenue from operations jumped 50% to ₹1.05 lakh crore compared with ₹70,108 crore in the previous quarter.

Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Coal India, TCS, HCL Technologies, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Dr Reddy's Labs also rose between 1.4% and 2.9%.

On the flip side, Hindalco, Reliance Industries, Eternal, Adani Enterprises, Trent, Bharat Electronics, Tata Steel and NTPC were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,461 shares were advancing while 1,302 were advancing on the NSE.