BackMarkets up 2% on tech gains
Markets up 2% on tech gains
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Mumbai: Shares rallied by almost 2% on gains in technology and banking stocks. European markets opening positive also nudged the markets on Wednesday afternoon.
Infosys Ltd, India’s No. 2 software services exporter, met forecasts with a 9.7% rise in second-quarter profit as a weak rupee boosted margins, but cut its full-year revenue outlook and warned of global economic uncertainty.
The main 30-share BSE index was up 1.2% at 16,729 points by 10:00am. All but seven of the index components were in the positive territory.
“We’re seeing the market recovering from some of the shocks that it took yesterday, but during the day we expect a small retreat back to around 0.5%," said Hitash Dang, vice president at Jaypee Capital.
The benchmark index had erased early gains of more than 1% on Tuesday and ended lower.
Infosys shares were up 5.9% at 10:00am.
“Infosys result was much better than what we had expected, which has driven the market up," Dang said.
Bangalore-based Infosys said consolidated net profit rose to ₹ 1,906 crore ($387 million) for the fiscal second quarter, from ₹ 1,737 crore a year ago. Revenue rose 16.6% to ₹ 8,099 crore, as the firm added 45 clients.
The postive numbers saw shares in industry stablemates Wipro , India’s third largest software services exporter, and Tata Consultancy Services , the industry No. 1, rise up to 4.7 and 4.4% respectively.
India’s market has been battered in recent months by surging inflation and interest rates, concerns about slowing domestic economic and earnings growth, and concerns over the health of the U.S. recovery and the debt crisis in Europe.
Asian shares fell on Wednesday on concerns that Europe’s debt crisis has hurt confidence in the global economy and is weighing on corporate earnings, while the Slovak parliament’s rejection of a plan to expand the euro zone rescue fund added to uncertainty.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6%, led by a near 2% drop in the materials sector .
Japan’s Nikkei average was down 0.7%, after Alcoa Inc, the largest US aluminium producer, said on Tuesday slowing economic growth knocked prices for the metal lower, denting its third-quarter profit and sending its shares down in after-hours trading.
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