BSE Sensex up 170 pts; Infosys up 11%, midcaps underperform

Moneycontrol Bureau
Live Market Commentary

11:10am TCS gained 3.44 percent and Wipro rose 2.24 percent after better-than-expected first quarter earnings by Infosys today.

Major bluechips like Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors are also on buyers' radar, which advanced between 0.5-0.9 percent.

Healthcare stocks are also seeing buying interest. Dr Reddys Labs jumped over one percent while Sun Pharma gained 0.7 percent.

Also Read - Sun Pharma gets FDA approval for diabetes generic drug

11:03am Indian rupee is moving towards 60 level, falling by 23 paise to 59.90 per dollar. CLSA feels the rupee is likely to head towards 67 per dollar.

Also Read - Stay long; current uptrend will push Nifty to 6050: Sukhani

10:43am Indian equity benchmarks maintained early gains with the Sensex rising 170 points, supported majorly by Infosys that beat the street with first quarter numbers.

The BSE Sensex is up 169.99 points at 19845.05, and the Nifty is up 33.25 points at 5968.35, but the broader markets underperformed benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are flat.

Earnings season started off on a positive note as Infosys delivered earnings better-than-expected. The dollar revenue guidance remained unchanged at 6-10 percent and the volume growth has improved to 4.1 percent versus 1.8 percent quarter-on-quarter.

UBS recommended a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 2900. Kotak expects Infosys stock to perform well during the day.  The stock rallied 11 percent.

Elder Pharma gained 4 percent as the board approved plans to recast operations. The board has approved restructuring of the company business by either raising capital, hiving off assets or through other strategic options to reduce debt. According to news reports, French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has emerged as the highest bidder for the domestic formulation business of elder Pharma, ahead of Pfizer and Glaxo.