Sensex ends marginally up
Stocks end marginally up after erasing most of the intra-day gains despite better-than-expected Infosys earnings
Mumbai: Indian stocks ended marginally up after erasing most of the intra-day gains on Friday despite better-than-expected earnings posted by Infosys Ltd and a narrowing of the trade deficit.
The 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex ended up 0.15%, or 32.06 points , at 20,745.43 points, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) broader 50-share Nifty rose 0.08%, or 4.75 points, to close at 6,173.10 points. The Sensex had at one point gained as much as 250 points during the day.
India’s second largest software services exporter Infosys announced its third quarter earnings, beating Street estimates. It raises its sales forecast as European IT demand revives.
Net profit rose 21.4% from ₹ 2,369 crore to ₹ 2,875 crore, while revenue rose 25% from ₹ 10,424 to ₹ 13,026 crore on a year-on-year basis.
India’s trade deficit narrowed to $10.14 billion in December compared with $17.59 billion a year ago. Gold and silver imports fell 68.3% to $1.7 billion, buoying hopes that current account deficit will improve by the fiscal year-end.
The BSE IT index rose 2.09% to be the biggest gainer while the BSE Metal index was the biggest loser, falling 1.64%.
The gainers included Infosys, which ended at ₹ 3,549, up 2.84%, emerging as the best performer among Sensex stocks. Wipro Ltd shares jumped 2.1% to ₹ 552.10.
Among the losers, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd shares lost 2.63% to ₹ 870 and Coal India Ltd slipped 2.43% to ₹ 288.50.
Later on Friday, the government will release the index of industrial production. On 13 January, the government will release the consumer price index inflation data and follow it two days later with wholesale price index data.
Asian markets ended mixed after Chinese December trade figures missed forecasts. China’s Shanghai Composite ended down 0.71% after exports fell to 4.3%, missing forecasts, while imports rose 8.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended up 0.26% and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average ended up 0.2%.
Overnight, US markets ended on a cautious note ahead of the jobs data. Analysts expect Friday’s labour market data to show that about 195,000 jobs were created last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1%, S&P 500 ended flat and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%.
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