IT stocks bounce back

IT stocks, which for a while were battling fears over the impact of the proposed Immigration Bill in the US, appear to have exorcised the ghost, even if temporarily, with IT majors bouncing back.

The strong show put up by the IT sector was evident from the fact that even the strengthening of Indian rupee, which should make some dent in their earnings if it gained momentum, too failed to dampen the interests of the investors.

IT bellwether

TCS was the biggest gainer in terms of percentage, up by 3.65 per cent or Rs 50.35 to trade at Rs 1,428.75.

Infosys was, however, a bigger gainer in terms of value, up by Rs 50.25 or 2.25 per cent to trade at Rs 2,285.70. HCL Tech jumped by Rs 9.25 to Rs 730.65. Wipro’s gain was a little more modest — the stock moved up by Rs 2.45 to Rs 350.80.

Some of the smaller IT counters too made notable gains. MindTree was trading higher by Rs 22 at Rs 823.80, CMC gained Rs 26.85 at Rs 1,353.95 and Tech Mahindra was up by Rs 16.75 to trade at Rs 970. Financial Technologies also made small gains.

The CNX IT index gained about 147 points and of the 19 stocks forming the index, only five were in the red, that too by making only marginal losses.

The market had rallied expecting cut in key rates by the RBI and probably this optimism rubbed on to the IT counters as well.

Sensex was up by 211 points at 19,717 and Nifty by 70 points to hover around 6,000. The rupee was quoting at Rs 53.83 per dollar.