IT, Tech Shares Lift Sensex; Infosys Climbs 15 Percent

India's BSE Sensex advanced Friday, led by gains from IT, technology and consumer durable sector shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 0.20 percent or 39.68 points to 19,703.23 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 0.07 percent or 4.20 points to 5,964.45.

IT sector shares rallied after Infosys, India's second largest software services firm, reported better-than-expected third quarter profit and raised its revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

Infosys shares climbed more than 15 percent after the company reported third quarter net profit of ₹2,369 crore, slightly lower compared to ₹2372 crore in the same period last year but topped analysts' estimation of ₹2,255 crore. Quarterly revenues surged 12.1 percent to ₹10,424 crore from last year and also beat analysts' estimation of ₹10,090 crore. The company also raised its full-year revenue forecast to at least ₹40,746 crore from its prior estimation of ₹39,582 crore.

"The market was slightly predatory, given that the last two times the company has disappointed, but this time the organic guidance is better ... which I think will be taken positively," Rikesh Parikh, vice president for markets strategy and equities at Motilal Oswal Securities in Mumbai, told Reuters.

Among the sectoral indices, IT and technology sectors rallied 8.96 percent and 6.36 percent, respectively, while FMCG and Oil & Gas sectors plunged 1.96 percent and 1.46 percent, respectively.

In the IT sector, Wipro surged 4.98 percent and TCS gained 4.56 percent while Tech Mahindra rose 1.71 percent.

Sterlite Industries Ltd gained 1.43 percent after the company stock was upgraded to an "overweight" rating from a previous "neutral" at Morgan Stanley.

The overall market breadth was negative with 938 advanced against 1758 declines. The BSE's Midcap Index declined 0.89 percent to 7,200.52 and Smallcap Index fell 0.92 percent to 7,504.97. CNX midcap Index fell 1.08 percent and CNX IT rallied 9.17 percent.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets mostly declined Friday after data showed that Chinese inflation jumped to a seven-month high in December while Japanese Nikkei surged on weaker yen.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that inflation in the world's second largest economy rose 2.5 percent on annual basis in December compared to the two percent increase the previous month and above the analysts' expectation of 2.3 percent, denting hopes that further policy easing is likely to boost growth.