D-Street Buzz: IT index outperforms; Infosys jumps 12%; TCS, Mphasis gain, L&T Infotech hits all-time high

The Indian stock market was trading in the green largely helped by IT stocks. Sensex is up 211.06 points or 0.59 percent at 36262.87, and the Nifty gained 39.70 points or 0.37 percent at 10657.90.

Among the sectors, the IT index jumped 5 percent led by heavyweight Infosys which surged 12 percent after the company came out with its June quarter numbers.

Infosys on July 15 reported a 2 percent decline in the June quarter profit at Rs 4,233 crore on strong operating performance. The company surprised the street by giving full-year constant currency revenue growth guidance.

Revenue from operations increased 1.7 percent sequentially to Rs 23,665 crore in the June quarter and dollar revenue fell 2.4 percent quarter-on-quarter to $3,121 million for the quarter.

CLSA, Normura, Citi and Motilal Oswal have a buy rating on the stock. Citi has raised target to Rs 1,000 from Rs 825 while Nomura has raised target to Rs 975. CLSA has also raised target to Rs 1,000 from Rs 860.

Motilal Oswal expects Infosys to be a key beneficiary in terms of recovery in IT spends in FY22 and within the sector, its relative preference for Infosys over TCS is premised on the company’s headroom for margin expansion.

The other gainers included Mphasis, HCL Tech and Tata Consultancy Services.

Infosys was one of the most active stocks on NSE in terms of volumes with 5,37,96,418 shares on NSE followed by Wipro where 2,87,54,060 shares were being traded.

CLSA has an underperform rating on Wipro and has raised target to Rs 215 from Rs 210 while Credit Suissehas upgraded the stock to buy and has raised target to Rs 260 from Rs 230 per share.

Technical Analyst Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com has recommended a buy on Infosys with a stop loss of Rs 828.