IT stocks lead rise in Nifty 50 to record highs

Blue-chip Nifty 50 rose to record highs on Monday led by information technology stocks after results from top-tier IT companies indicated signs of demand recovery for the sector.

The NSE Nifty 50 rose about 0.4 per cent to a record high of 24,598. It is up 0.25 per cent as of 10:15 am, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.2 per cent to 80,654 points, just shy off record high levels hit on Friday.

Strong buying in the IT sector following TCS results triggered a much-needed impetus for the benchmark Nifty 50 index, said Angel One analyst Sameet Chavan.

Despite the markets appearing overbought... there are no signs of weakness, Chavan added.

The IT index rose about 1.3 per cent to an all-time high at the open, becoming the top percentage gainer among 13 major sectors.

HCLTech rose about 3.5 per cent after it posted a rise in June-quarter revenue and projected growth in most verticals and geographies in the ongoing quarter, post closing bell on Friday.

Tata Consultancy Services, the country's top software services provider has risen about 7.5 per cent in two sessions after beating quarterly revenue expectations post market hours of Thursday.

Indian IT companies, which earn a significant share of revenue from the US, have also gained about 8 per cent in the previous two weeks, helped by firming bets of a September US rate cut.

The odds of a 25 basis point rate cut have risen to about 90 per cent from about 70 per cent a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, on the back of recent soft labour market and inflation data.

Eight of the 13 major sectors logged gains. The broader, more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps were little changed.

Among individual stocks, Avenue Supermarts gained about 4 per cent after the operator of DMart retail store chain posted a 17.5 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit on Saturday.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency climbed 6 per cent on posting rise in net profit in June quarter.