According to reports from Mint, higher oil prices amid fresh escalation in tensions between the US and Iran and rising bond yields in the US after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish tone at the Jackson Hole symposium weighed on stock market sentiment. The benchmarks, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, declined by up to 0.80% in morning trade on Monday, 31 August. Iran launched strikes early Monday after US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz in their first military action in a month on Sunday. This drove Brent crude futures up by 3%, bringing them near $91 per barrel.
The Indian IT sector is positioned for a significant revival driven by AI deployment spending, with combined capital expenditure by the five largest hyperscalers projected to approach $825 billion in calendar year 2026, nearly double the 2025 level. As reported by Mint, AI spending is shifting from infrastructure building to deployment, integration, governance, and legacy modernisation, creating extensive services opportunities for Indian IT companies. The sector offers exposure to AI-related opportunities including AI FinOps, governance, managed-agent operations, legacy upgrades, sovereign AI and small-language-model pools, without the funding and balance-sheet risks carried by infrastructure providers. According to Anand Rathi, the next phase of AI investment cycle could work in favour of Indian IT services companies, with global technology spending expected to move towards enterprise-level AI deployment after a period focused largely on building infrastructure. The growth opportunity could extend into FY28 and FY29, potentially giving the IT services sector a multi-year growth cycle.
Sandip Agarwal, Fund Manager at Sowilo Investment Managers, projects the IT index could rise another 50% over the next two to two-and-a-half years as earnings recover and demand for artificial intelligence services picks up. He expects cumulative earnings-per-share (EPS) growth of around 70% over three years and believes this potential upside does not require any further expansion in valuation multiples. Agarwal's optimism is driven by the expected acceleration in enterprise AI adoption, with companies likely to see strong demand as their available workforce and bench strength remain limited. He believes the IT sector could see a period of strong growth over the next 6–12 months, similar to the post-COVID recovery, with most IT companies expected to benefit from the recovery.
As reported by Mint, on the technical front, the Nifty briefly breached below the crucial 24,000 mark during Monday's session, hitting an intraday low of 23,994. According to Jigar S. Patel, Senior Manager of Equity Technical Research at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers, 24,000 continues to offer strong support, backed by the daily gap area, rising trendline and 61.8% Fibonacci retracement. Patel recommends a buy-on-dips strategy, with 24,100–24,000 as the key support zone, as he believes the broader structure remains positive as long as 23,600 holds on a closing basis. On the upside, 24,400 remains the immediate hurdle. A sustained breakout above this level could open the way towards 24,600–24,750, followed by our immediate target of 25,000.
According to Mint, for Nifty Bank, a decisive breakout above 58,200 could trigger fresh upside momentum, while 57,000 remains the crucial support. We maintain a bullish bias and recommend buying on dips above 57,000, Patel said. The technical analysis suggests that the banking sector may benefit from the current market conditions and could see renewed momentum if key resistance levels are breached.
As reported by Mint, Jigar Patel recommends buying the following three stocks for the next 1-2 weeks: Genus Power Infrastructures with a buy range of ₹350-340, target price of ₹375, and stop loss at ₹330. The technical setup shows a positive breakout in the weekly RSI and Ichimoku Cloud, indicating improving momentum. Delivery is recommended with a buy range of ₹470-460, target price of ₹515, and stop loss at ₹440. The stock shows strong support from a major bullish trendline along with the 200-day SMA. Hindustan Zinc is suggested with a buy range of ₹625-615, target price of ₹700, and stop loss at ₹580. The weekly price chart shows a breakout above important resistance zones, supported by improving buying interest and weekly RSI breakout.
