Sensex rises as strong US data buoys IT stocks

The BSE Sensex rose on Friday, sending indexes to its second consecutive weekly gains, as technology stocks such as Infosys extended a rally this year after data continued to signal a sturdier US economy.

Infosys rose 1.2 percent, having earlier come close to hitting a record high of Rs 3,573 last hit on 20 December, after the Wall Street hit a new peak on strong data from the holiday shopping season and a fall in initial jobless claims.

The Sensex closed at 21,190 points, up 0.55 percent and the Nifty at 6,316, up 0.59 percent.

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Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS told CNBC TV18 in an interview that he is positive on the stock market now than he was two months back. However, he cautioned that the concerns about the economic growth have not yet receded completely.

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“It is not yet clear as to when the capital investment cycle will begin and when the economic recovery will take hold. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth has bottomed out, but how long this trough is going to be is something which we need to watch out for. We are a little more optimistic, but still pretty cautious,” he told the TV channel.

Indraprastha Gas shares rose 0.49 percent to end at 267.25 buoyed on the news that the company is going to start charging Rs 50.10/ kg for CNG in Delhi. The company said it was forced to increase prices after a Gujarat High Court order that required all domestically available gas to be equally distributed between all companies in the country.

Apollo Hospitals was one of the biggest gainers of the day closing at Rs 938.15, up a little over 6 percent. The stock was included in the NSE futures and options segment starting today.

Shares of the MCX fell 4.37 percent to Rs 451.95 after the newly constitued MCX board asked promoter Finance Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) to reduce its stake in the bourse to 2 percent. FTIL and its chief, Jignesh Shah, were declared unfit to run any exchanges in the country by the Forward Markets Commission last week.

With inputs from Reuters