Indian shares rise as robust IT earnings give respite from virus-led slump

BENGALURU: India's main stock indexes rose on Friday after strong earnings from Wipro lifted shares of software services companies, helping investors look past a surge in the country's COVID-19 cases.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.5% at 14,659.70 by 0430 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.3% at 48,954.21.

The Nifty 50 and the Sensex have fallen 5.5% and 7.1%, respectively, since hitting record highs in February, as a severe second wave of COVID-19 cases has threatened to derail a nascent economic recovery.

On Friday, India reported a record daily increase of 217,353 infections, its eighth daily record jump in the last nine days.

IT services company Wipro's shares jumped about 8% as the company reported a 28% rise in quarterly profit after market closed on Thursday, beating analysts' estimates.

"Results from TCS and Wipro point that the market (is) in a good direction as investors look forward to corporate India's numbers... there is a feeling that leading companies will not disappoint," Rusmik Oza, executive vice president (head of fundamental research) at Kotak Securities said.

Earlier this week, IT services heavyweight Tata Consultancy Services reported a 15% jump in quarterly profit, while smaller peer Infosys Ltd posted a 17.5% rise in its profit.

IT stocks advanced 1.7%, buoyed by Wipro's surge.

Auto stocks rose over 1%, with Tata Motors advancing 2.1%.

State-owned banks rose 0.9%, but were on track to lose over 6% for the week.

Metal stocks gained 0.8% as benchmark iron ore prices rose on strong demand.