By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -Indian information technology stocks lifted domestic shares on Monday after strong U.S. jobs data allayed fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy.
The Nifty 50 index was up 0.24% at 25,047.4 points as of 9:48 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.19% to 81,848.28.
A five-session losing run saw the benchmark indexes slump 4.5% last week in their worst week in over two years as concerns about the deepening conflict in the Middle East continued to rattle investors, while rising foreign outflows also weighed.
However, robust U.S. labour market data, after India market hours on Friday, eased concerns of a likely recession, boosting investor sentiment.
Asian markets opened higher on the day, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rising 0.5%. [MKTS/GLOB]
Seven of the 13 major domestic sectors logged gains.
“We see the recent correction as a healthy pull back and still retain the view that it is a buy on dips market,” said Abhishek Goenka, founder and CEO of IFA Global.
“The overall India story is intact and continuing domestic flows would continue to cushion markets amid volatility in foreign flows.”
IT companies, which earn chunk of their revenue from the U.S., advanced 1% on rising expectations of a soft landing for the United States.
LTIMindtree and Mphasis rose 2.5% and 3%, respectively, after JP Morgan upgraded the IT companies to “overweight” from “neutral”, terming them best placed to benefit from a recovery in the banking and financial services segment.
Among individual stocks, HeidelbergCement India climbed 15% on a report that the Adani group is in talks to acquire the cement manufacturer.
Jio Financial Services rose 3% after the company and BlackRock received the markets regulator’s approval to set up a mutual fund business.
Domestically, the broader, more domestically focused small- and mid-caps dropped about 0.5% each. ($1 = 83.9630 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan, Savio D’Souza and Sonia Cheema)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.