Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex experienced a strong rebound on Thursday, with BSE Sensex climbing 1,000+ points to cross 73,750 and Nifty50 gaining nearly 300 points to cross 22,900 as of latest trading session. According to The Financial Express, buying was visible across most sectors, with information technology, auto, financial services and pharmaceutical stocks leading the gains. The rally comes against a mixed global backdrop, with weakness in Asian markets and concerns over expensive artificial intelligence-linked stocks weighing on investor sentiment overseas. However, improving corporate earnings, a pullback in crude oil prices and a stronger rupee offered support to domestic equities.
IT stocks remained among the biggest contributors to Thursday's gains, with the Nifty IT index climbing 614.45 points, or 2.04% to 30,785.45, making it the top-performing sectoral index on the NSE. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, Tech Mahindra led the pack with a 3.83% rise to ₹1,635.50, with traded volumes of 61.48 lakh shares worth ₹999.65 crore as the company prepares to announce quarterly results. Wipro added 1.39% to ₹173.29, also due to report earnings after market hours. HCL Technologies followed with a 3.01% gain to ₹1,366.90, while TCS rose 2.44% to ₹2,361.10 and Infosys advanced 2.25% to ₹1,112.45. The rally was driven by stronger-than-expected quarterly results from major IT companies and improving sentiment around artificial intelligence services.
IT stocks have rebounded sharply with the Nifty IT index gaining 8% over the past three sessions, adding ₹82,500 crore to the sector's market capitalisation. According to The Economic Times, HCLTech led the gains, rising 12%, followed by TCS at 11% and Tech Mahindra at 10.60%. Infosys and Wipro advanced 9% and 7% respectively. The rebound follows a selloff in AI-linked stocks across Asian and US markets, which raised concerns over stretched valuations, concentration risks and the time required for heavy investments in artificial intelligence to generate returns. Asian markets opened lower on Thursday after US consumer inflation rose faster than expected, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan falling 1.2%.
HCLTech reported consolidated net profit of ₹5,132 crore for the September quarter, up 21.2% year-on-year and 11% sequentially, beating the CNBC-TV18 poll estimate of ₹4,963 crore. In rupee terms, HCL Tech's revenue rose 11.5% YoY to ₹35,620 crore, with EBIT margin expanding 131 basis points sequentially to 18.2%. The company's advanced AI revenue rose 28.4% sequentially and 78% year-on-year in constant currency terms to $219 million. HCL Tech added 6,450 employees during the quarter, its highest quarterly addition in 16 quarters, taking its workforce to 2.30 lakh. The company raised its FY27 revenue growth guidance to 2.5–4% in constant currency terms from its earlier range of 1–4%, while services revenue growth guidance was revised to 3-4%. TCS reported 15% year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit at ₹13,884 crore for the second quarter, with revenue rising 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in constant currency terms. Operating margin came in at 24%, while net margin stood at 19%, with the company declaring a second interim dividend of ₹12 per share for FY2026-27.
AI services provided another source of optimism, with Infosys CEO Salil Parekh stating that AI services accounted for more than 8% of the company's revenue in the second quarter and were growing at a double-digit rate sequentially. He estimated that AI revenues could drive almost half of the company's work over the next two to three years. According to Mint, the focus will now shift to results and management commentary from other large IT companies, with investors assessing whether HCLTech's performance points to broader demand improvement or reflects company-specific factors. V K Vijayakumar from Geojit Investments noted that the correction in global AI stocks could support Indian equities by easing foreign investor outflows, while concerns over another US Federal Reserve rate hike had triggered selling in the US market. Accenture's CEO Julie Sweet pushed to dispel fears that new technology poses a major threat to the consulting industry, stating that "The opportunity is bigger than ever before" and that "the new demand that will be created, will far exceed the demand that's being replaced". Accenture expects to increase revenue and profit margin through to 2029, targeting mid-single digit revenue growth in 2027 and 2028 and mid-to-high single digit growth in 2029.
