Sensex up 229 points in early trade; Infosys surges 13.21 pc

The BSE benchmark Sensex today rallied by nearly 229 points to hit a fresh six-week high in early trade, mainly led by gains in IT stocks after Infosys posted better-than-expected first quarter earnings.
Besides, a firming trend in the global markets also buoyed the trading sentiment here.
The 30-share index, which had gained 381.94 points in the previous session, rose by 228.78 points, or 1.16 per cent, to 19,904.84, with stocks of IT, technology, realty and banking sectors leading the rise in early trade. This is Sensex's highest level since closing of 20,215.40 on May 30.
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 38.30 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 5,973.40.

Buying activity gathered momentum after Infosys posted better-than-expected first quarter earnings and gave rupee revenue guidance of 13-17 per cent for 2013-14 fiscal, which mainly influenced the trading sentiment, brokers said.
A strong trend in the Asian region following overnight gains on US markets, further generated buying by participants, they said.

Stock of Infosys climbed 13.21 per cent to Rs 2,862.35 in early trade, after the company reported consolidated profit for the first quarter up 3.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,374 crore. TCS up by 2.39 per cent to Rs 1,602, while Wipro gained 1.80 per cent to Rs 370.55.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up by 0.39 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index gained 0.20 per cent in the morning trade today.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.11 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.