Better-than-expected results by IT bellwether Infosys (which posted a 11 per cent increase in net profit to touch Rs 1,906 crore in Q2 FY12), overshadowed disappointing IIP numbers and took the Indian benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty, over 2.5 per cent up on Wednesday.

The Sensex was up 2.55 per cent or 421.92 points and closed at 16,958.39 while the Nifty was also up 2.51 per cent or 125.05 points and closed at 5,099.40.

“It was a double whammy for traders who took long positions yesterday and short positions today as they were caught on the wrong foot on both the days,” said a dealer from a multinational brokerage.

Infosys, SBI, TataMotors, Jindal Steel and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top five gainers while Coal India, Tata Power, BPCL, Bharti Airtel and Ranbaxy were the top five losers on Wednesday.

The markets opened up by about one per cent. The BSE Sensex rose 124 points (0.7 per cent) while the NSE Nifty was up by 41 points or 0.8 per cent.

Analysts say that the markets “were pleasantly surprised” by the Infosys results lending to a positive outlook on the market for the day.

Infosys also saw a strong opening in the stock markets. On the BSE, the stock opened up by 3.6 per cent per share (or Rs 91 per share) at Rs 2,601. On the NSE as well, the stock opened up by 3.6 per cent per share at Rs 2,595.

Infosys is the second biggest stock in the Sensex 30 after Reliance Industries, with a weightage of 9.04 per cent.

On Tuesday, European markets, except for the German DAX and Swiss Market Index, closed in the red — down by less than one per cent each. The US markets were all up by about one per cent.

The Nymex Crude Future ended down by 0.6 per cent at $85.27. Gold was up by 0.5 per cent at $1669.10/oz.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW