The benchmark indices gained on January 12 morning to inch closer to all-time highs, helped by buying in information technology stocks following positive results from bigwigs TCS and Infosys.

At 10.35 am, the Sensex was up 566.61 points, or 0.79 percent, at 72,288, and the Nifty was up 162.10 points, or 0.75 percent, at 21,809. About 1,969 shares advanced, 1,143 declined and 83 were unchanged.

Resilience in IT stocks and strength in Reliance will enable the Nifty to consolidate around 21,600 levels. HDFC Bank results on January 16 will be keenly watched by the market for cues to the direction of Bank Nifty, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The broader market also moved higher. The BSE midcap index rose 0.3 percent and the smallcap 0.6 percent.

Sectorally, the Nifty IT index led the gains, rising to 5 percent as heavyweights Infosys jumped 5 percent and TCS 3 percent in morning deals, a day after releasing their December quarter numbers.

Nifty Pharma, Nifty PSU bank, Nifty Bank, and Nifty metal were also trading in the green.

Nifty Auto, Nifty Pharma, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Energy, and Nifty Infra were trading lower.

According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head-Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, investors would likely trade cautiously ahead of the release of the inflation data later in the day.

Hence, we expect the market to trade within the current range, along with stock-specific actions. TCS and Infosys Q3 results, their management commentary, and guidance would provide an insight into the future outlook for the sector,” he added.

Technical view

There is indecision in the market as the Nifty formed an indecisive spinning top candle on the technical charts, said Sheersham Gupta, Director and Senior Technical Analyst at Rupeezy.

Notably, the support level for Nifty has now shifted from 21,500 to 21,600. The market has been trading in the short range of 300 points for over two weeks and it is a matter of time before this range is broken, he said.

With the volatility index India VIX falling over the past three days, a breakout looked likely, Gupta said.

For Bank Nifty, 48,000, marked by substantial call writing, would be a significant hurdle.

A decisive breakthrough above this level is anticipated to trigger a sharp short-covering rally. On the downside, the lower-end support remains intact at 46900, Kunal Shah, Senior Technical and derivative Analyst at LKP Securities, said. A close below the support level could intensify selling pressure, he added.

We feel participants should prefer hedged positions, with the beginning of the earnings season, and wait for clarity, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.