Indian shares rise as robust IT earnings give respite from virus-led slump
BENGALURU - India's main stock indexes rose on Friday after strong earnings from Wipro lifted shares of software services companies, helping investors look past a surge in the country's COVID-19 cases.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.5% at 14,659.70 by 0430 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.3% at 48,954.21.
The Nifty 50 and the Sensex have fallen 5.5% and 7.1%, respectively, since hitting record highs in February, as a severe second wave of COVID-19 cases has threatened to derail a nascent economic recovery.
On Friday, India reported a record daily increase of 217,353 infections, its eighth daily record jump in the last nine days.
IT services company Wipro's shares jumped about 8% as the company reported a 28% rise in quarterly profit after market closed on Thursday, beating analysts' estimates.
"Results from TCS and Wipro point that the market (is) in a good direction as investors look forward to corporate India's numbers... there is a feeling that leading companies will not disappoint," Rusmik Oza, executive vice president (head of fundamental research) at Kotak Securities said.
Earlier this week, IT services heavyweight Tata Consultancy Services reported a 15% jump in quarterly profit, while smaller peer Infosys Ltd posted a 17.5% rise in its profit.
IT stocks advanced 1.7%, buoyed by Wipro's surge.
Auto stocks rose over 1%, with Tata Motors advancing 2.1%.
State-owned banks rose 0.9%, but were on track to lose over 6% for the week.
Metal stocks gained 0.8% as benchmark iron ore prices rose on strong demand.
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