Sensex gains 200 pts; Infosys drives IT Index up 4.5%

Indian equity benchmarks maintained its early trade gains on support from technology stocks, particularly Infosys. Both Sensex and Nifty gained more than 1%  post announcement of Infosys' EPS guidance for FY12. Financial, FMCG, oil & gas, capital good and metal were other sectors helping the market. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 223.18 points to 16,759.65, and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 68.90 points to 5,043.25.

Country's second largest software services exporter reported 11% growth in profit of Rs 1906 crore for the quarter ended September 2011, which was better than expectations of Rs 1891 crore. Infosys EPS guidance for FY12 boosted the stock; company has upped earnings per share to Rs 143.02-145.26 versus earlier EPS of Rs 128.20-130.08.

The stock surged nearly 6% and the BSE IT Index jumped 4.5%. Other technology stocks followed the same trend; TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech gained 3-4%.

Among other largecaps, ITC, SBI, ICICI Bank, BHEL, HDFC Bank and HUL moved up 1-1.8%. Reliance Industries, Coal India and NTPC were up over 0.7%.

However, Tata Motors and Tata Power were down 2-2.7%. M&M fell 1%.

The broader indices gained 0.6% each. About 1503 shares advanced as against 693 shares declined on BSE.

At 9:19 hours IST : Market cheers Infosys Q2 nos; Sensex gains 150 pts

Infosys' better-than expected EPS guidance for FY12 pushed Indian equity benchmarks sharply higher in the opening trade. Banking stocks too added strength. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 164 points to 16,700.36 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 52 points at 5,026.55.

Consolidated net profit of Infosys for July-September quarter of FY12 jumped 11% to Rs 1906 crore and revenues moved up 8.2% to Rs 8,099 crore. More important point was its full year earnings per share guidance, which company increased to Rs 143.02-145.26 as against earlier Rs 128.20-130.08.

Moshe Katri, MD of Cowen and company said Infosys second quarter numbers were largely in-line with expectations.

The stock shot up 5% and CNX IT rose 3.7%. Among other technology stocks, HCL Tech, TCS, Wipro, Hexaware, Mahindra Satyam and Polaris gained 2-3%.

Banking stocks like SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank too were on buyers' radar.

DLF, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Communications were other gainers.

However, HDFC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and BPCL were marginally lower.

The CNX Midcap Index rose 38 points to 7035.

Max India shot up 4.5% as company sold 26% in Max Healthcare Institute to SA based Life Healthcare for Rs 516.5 crore.

Jaypee Infra and Amtek Auto were up 3%. However, Camlin plunged 8%.