Stock Market Today: Sensex Surges 600 Points; Nifty Around 21,800. Infosys Zooms 7 Per Cent

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Infosys gained 7 per cent, TechM 4 per cent, Wipro 4 per cent, TCS 3 per cent, HCL 2, and SBI 1.3 per cent

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday extended their lead following IT heavyweights’ Q3 results. At 10.40 am, the BSE Sensex advanced 72,347, up 626 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 21,826, up 179 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Infosys gained 7 per cent, TechM 4 per cent, Wipro 4 per cent, TCS 3 per cent, HCL 2, and SBI 1.3 per cent. On the flip side, M&M, Asian Paints, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, PowerGrid, Maruti emerged losers.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index gained 0.3 per cent, while the SmallCap added 0.5 per cent.

Sectorally, information technology index rose 4.7 per cent, PSU Bank index up 1 per cent and Realty index gained 2 per cent, while Auto index slipped 0.5 per cent.

"With inline results from Infosys and better-than-expected results from TCS, IT stocks will see some action today. Even though there is no positive message from the management commentary, the market is likely to respond positively to the absence of any bad news," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark climbed 63 points to settle at 71,721, while the NSE Nifty gained 28.50 points to close at 21,647.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading higher while Seoul quoted lower. Japan's Nikkei rose another 1 per cent this morning, and now quoted near 35,500 levels, its highest since 1990. The US markets ended mostly in the green on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.82 per cent to $78.82 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 865 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee breached its seven-day gaining streak and depreciated 4 paise to 83.05 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday as foreign investors rushed to withdraw funds amid a sharp rise in crude oil prices. Despite a weak American currency and surging equity markets, overall sentiment was dented after the US data showed inflation increased more than expected in December, dousing hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the near future, according to forex analysts.

They said investors will also keep a close watch on the domestic inflation numbers to be released later in the day. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened weak at 83.08 and lost further ground to touch 83.10 against the greenback. The unit later traded at 83.05 against the dollar, registering a loss of 4 paise from its previous close.