SENSEX surges over 700 points, NIFTY50 above 24,150 led by gains in IT shares

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Friday, July 10, powered by gains in information technology shares after the country's largest information technology (IT) company - Tata Consultancy Services reported better than anticipated first quarter earnings post market hours on Thursday. The SENSEX rose as much as 785 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,188.

As of 9:31 am, the SENSEX was up 714 points at 77,456 and NIFTY50 index advanced 209 points to 24,173.

Asian markets were trading higher as investor sentiment turned positive after reports suggested that United States President Donald Trump said Iran had reached out seeking negotiations, raising hopes that tensions between Washington and Tehran could eventually cool despite recent military exchanges.

Japan's Nikkei surged 2.15%, China's Shanghai Composite index gained 0.64%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.8% and South Korea's KOSPI surged 4.47%.

Back home, buying was visible across board as 13 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY IT index's 1.7% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Consumer Durables, Private Bank, PSU Bank, Metal, Auto, and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 1% and 1.6%.

On the other hand, pharma and healthcare shares were witnessing selling pressure.

Broader markets were witnessing buying interest as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.8% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index surged 1.24%.

Tata Consultancy Services was among top gainers in the NIFTY50 index after its Q1 earnings came in better than estimates. The stock rose as much as 4% to hit an intraday high of ₹2,133.

TCS reported a net profit of ₹13,349 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year, marking an increase of nearly 5% from ₹12,760 crore in the same period last year.

Its revenue from operations advanced 14% to ₹72,275 crore at the end of the first quarter from ₹63,437 crore in the year-ago period.

Jio Financial Services, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Asian Paints, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, Tata Steel, HDFC Life and Maruti Suzuki also rose between 1.6% and 3.3%.

On the flip side, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, Eternal, Max Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals and Sun Pharma were notable losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,303 shares were advancing while 526 were declining on the NSE.