The markets shrugged off lower-than-expected IIP data and continued trading firm in late-morning trades. The bourses witnessed buying in IT stocks on better-than-expected results by Infosys. The BSE Sensex is at 16,695, up 159 points and the S&P CNX Nifty is at 5,024, up 49 points. Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index touched a high of 16,779 and a low of 16,660.
Industrial growth slowed to 4.1% in August from 4.5% in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, Infosys has rallied almost 6 per cent to 2,650 after it reported slightly better numbers for the September 2011 quarter. Net profit after tax was reported at Rs 1,906 crore against Rs 1,702 crore in the previous quarter, up 9.7 per cent y-o-y. Reuters poll expected consolidated net profit at Rs 1,891 crore. Revenues grew by 16.6 per cent to Rs 8,099 crore.
In its FY12 guidance the company expects a growth of 17.1-19.1 per cent as against earlier 18-20 per cent. While the numbers were slightly better than expected, global uncertainties are likely to affect revenue growth going forward. SD Shibulal, CEO and Managing Director of Inofsys said that the global macro-economic environment is still uncertain and that it should be a concern for the IT industry.
On the sectoral front, BSE IT index has gained nearly 5% at 5,484 and is followed by BSE Teck, Bankex and FMCG indices. Infosys, HCL Technologies, MphasiS, TCS and Oracle Financial Services, up 3-5% each, are the prominent gainers from the IT space.
SBI, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Federal Bank, up 1% each, are the major gainers among the financials.
On the Sensex, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Jindal Steel and Cipla, up 2-5% each. The losers from the pack are Tata Motors, Tata Power, Mahindra & Mahindra, DLF and JP Associates, down 1-3% each.
Among individual stocks, Max India has soared nearly 2% to Rs 180 after the company said that its subsidiary, Max Healthcare, has entered into a non-binding term sheet with Life Healthcare Group, South Africa's second largest hospital chain to issue and allot shares to the investor constituting 26% of the post-issue equity share capital of Max Healthcare for an aggregate consideration of Rs 516 crore.
Aurobindo Pharma is trading higher by 4% at Rs 135 on reports that company has signed an agreement with the Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool for production and supply rights for five AIDS medicines.
The overall market breadth is positive as 1,397 stocks have advanced against 932 declining ones, on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
