By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks reversed early losses on Friday, pushing Nifty 50 to a one-year high, as gains in Reliance Industries ahead of its results outweighed losses in Infosys and Wipro, which fell on margin concerns despite robust earnings.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.42% to 25,693.3, highest since October 1, 2024 while the BSE Sensex added 0.50% to 83,887.58 as of 10:36 a.m. IST. Both the indexes fell about 0.2% at open.
The benchmarks ended Thursday at three-month highs and now sit less than 3% below their record peaks reached in September 2024.
Markets are witnessing a bullish consolidation following a recent rally, and ahead of the results of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank on Saturday and Reliance post market on Friday, said two analysts.
Reliance and ICICI Bank rose 0.9% and 0.6% respectively, while HDFC Bank gained 0.4%.
“Good results from HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank can support the market and if Reliance also joins the rally, after its results, the market can sustain the momentum further,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.
Ten of the 16 major sectors logged gains. The broader small-caps advanced 0.2%, while mid-caps shed 0.1%.
The IT sub-index dropped 1.3%, with Wipro slipping 4.5% despite beating second-quarter revenue estimates, as analysts raised concerns about margin pressures stemming from deal ramp-ups and recent acquisitions.
Infosys also lost 1.8% after reporting strong September-quarter results.
However, the company’s profit margins missed estimates, and its fiscal 2026 revenue outlook of 2%-3% was seen as overly conservative, according to CLSA.
Among individual stocks, Asian Paints rose 5% to emerge as the top percentage gainer on Nifty 50, helped by a drop in oil prices – a key input cost for paintmakers. [O/R]
Nestle India climbed 1.2%, after gaining 4.5% on Thursday on reporting a rise in sales and volume growth in the September quarter.
Zee Entertainment fell 3% after reporting a sharp drop in second-quarter profit.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Ronojoy Mazumdar)
