IT Stocks in Demand

Stocks hovered in a small range after hitting intraday low in morning trade. At 10:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 45.71 points or 0.13% at 34,381.58. The Nifty 50 index was down 24.05 points or 0.23% at 10,541.25. Negative Asian stocks weighed on the domestic bourses.

Shares of index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC declined. IT stocks gained after good Q4 result from IT bellwether TCS. Cement stocks saw mixed trend.

A bout of volatility was witnessed in early trade as the key benchmark indices dipped in negative zone after a positive start to the days trading session.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.59%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.16%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1,121 shares fell and 795 shares rose. A total of 82 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks fell with technology stocks leading the way following a downbeat outlook from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Inflation remained weak in Japan. Core consumer prices rose 0.9% from a year earlier in March, versus Februarys reading of 1%.

US stocks ended lower yesterday, 19 April 2018 with consumer staples, real estate and technology shares leading the losses.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets later today, 20 April 2018 to discuss production caps. Oil futures were down slightly in Asia after hitting a 3-year high this week.

Back home, index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC lost 1.08% to Rs 1,844.25.

IT stocks gained after good Q4 result from IT bellwether TCS. Gains were also supported as the rupee weakened past 66 level against the dollar. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lions share of revenue from exports.

Infosys (up 3.73%), Wipro (up 2.54%), HCL Technologies (up 3.28%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 1.37%), Tech Mahindra (up 2.64%), L&T Infotech (up 1.19%), MindTree (up 2.65%), Hexaware Technologies (up 3.28%) and Mphasis (up 2.97%) rose.

IT major TCS jumped 3.41%. On a consolidated basis, IT major TCS net profit rose 5.81% to Rs 6925 crore on 3.79% increase in net sales to Rs 32075 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q3 December 2017. Net profit fell 1.81% to Rs 25880 crore on 4.36% increase in net sales to Rs 123104 crore in the year ended March 2018 over the year ended March 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 19 April 2018.

The board of TCS recommended bonus issue of equity shares in the ratio of 1 equity share of Re 1 each for every 1 equity share of Re 1 each.

TCS CEO and MD Rajesh Gopinathan said strong demand in digital across all industry verticals and large transformational deal wins have made this one of our best fourth quarters In recent years. The strong exit allows the company to start the new fiscal on a confident note.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 66.0350, compared with closing of 65.80 during the previous trading session.

Cement stocks saw mixed trend. Ambuja Cements (down 0.57%) and UltraTech Cement (down 0.09%) fell. ACC (up 0.26%) and Shree Cement (up 0.5%) rose.

Grasim Industries was off 0.69%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.