India’s benchmark Nifty 50 and Sensex indexes logged small gains on Thursday, ahead of a key U.S. inflation print, while information technology stocks were subdued before quarterly results from bellwethers later in the day.The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.13% to 21,647.20 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.09% to 71,721.18.IT stocks fell 0.28%, ahead of quarterly results of market leaders Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, due post market hours on Thursday.
IT companies’ forecasts will be in focus as their results are expected to be subdued on weak spending by key U.S. clients.U.S. inflation data, due later in the day, will also be on investors’ radar.A soft print will likely fortify bets of a rate cut in March, making equities, and IT stocks in particular, attractive.”We see the benchmark Nifty consolidating and different sectors coming to the fore, driven by earnings in the near-term, said Abhishek Goenka,” founder and CEO of treasury and wealth management firm IFA Global.
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Heavyweight Reliance Industries, which underperformed the Nifty in 2023, rose 2.63% and hit a new record high for the second straight session. Since Goldman Sachs reiterated a “buy” rating on the company on Wednesday, citing gains from its oil and chemical segments and structural growth in its consumer and tech businesses, the stock has jumped 5.4%.Two-wheeler makers Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto jumped 4.64% and 3.47%, respectively, and were the top Nifty 50 gainers on the day.Sharp growth in volumes could lead to revenue growth of 30% for Bajaj Auto and 20% for Hero MotoCorp in the December-quarter, analysts at Investec said.
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The more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps outperformed the benchmarks, rising 0.58% and 0.49%, respectively.”We believe that small-caps could already be in overvalued territory and would like to exercise caution in this space,” IFA Global’s Goenka said.
