Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex rose to new highs on July 12 as a massive rally in IT stocks lifted the market sentiment. The upbeat mood among investors was also fuelled by better-than-expected inflation figures in the US, lifting hopes of an interest rate cut.

At noon, the Sensex was up 0.80 percent at 80,534 and the Nifty was up 0.81 percent at 24,512. About 1,667 shares advanced, 1,638 shares declined, and 97 shares were unchanged.

The headline indices outperformed the broader market in the afternoon, reversing trends from the morning. The midcap and smallcap index rose 0.3 and 0.5 percent respectively. The midcap index has rallied over 10 percent since the start of June while the smallcap index has surged nearly 13 percent during the same period.

The fear gauge, also known as the VIX, eased 1 percent to 13.8.

Sectoral Trend

The IT index was on a roll, rising almost 5 percent after TCS' Q1 results led multiple brokerages to turn bullish. TCS shares surged 6 percent to become the top gainer on the Nifty. Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Tech were the other gainers. Bank Nifty also rose 0.5 percent, extending gains for a second session. Realty, Healthcare, and Pharma indices slipped the most with the realty index falling 1 percent.

Fundamental View

"The positive global cue is the decline in inflation in the US by 0.1 percent in June triggering hopes of a rate cut by the Fed in September for which the market indicates a 90 percent probability. The positive domestic cue is the better-than-expected numbers from TCS and positive management commentary which can lift most IT stocks," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"Investors can think of moving some money from the overvalued segments to segments which are attractive from the valuation perspective," he added.

Technical View

"The overall bias has been maintained positive and a decisive breach above the 24,450 zone is necessary to carry on with the positive move further ahead with the next target of the 24,900 level expected," said Vaishali Parekh, vice president of Technical Research at Prabhudas Lilladher. "Sensex, for the past 3 sessions, has been hovering near the 80,500–79,500 levels, witnessing strong support near the 79,500 levels and closing above the 79,900 zone, but not being able to breach those support levels," she added.

Key Nifty gainers

TCS, LTIMindtree, Wipro, Infosys, HCL Tech

Key Nifty losers

Divi's Labs, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank

Key Sensex gainers

TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, HCL Tech

Key Sensex losers

NTPC, M&M, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle India

Stock Moves

Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilisers: Shares surged around 10 percent to hit a fresh record high after the company announced a significant development. The Board of Directors approved a purchase order worth Rs 515 crore for Topsoe A/s to procure a Basic Engineering Design Package (BEDP) and supply proprietary equipment and catalysts.

IREDA: Shares gained over 6 percent to hit a fresh record high ahead of the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings. Investors expect the company to report healthy growth numbers during Q1FY25, following the upbeat provisional business performance.

Zee Entertainment: Shares jumped six percent after the firm announced it will consider raising funds through the issue of securities.