Nifty, Sensex hit record high led by IT stocks following Accenture's strong quarterly results

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note after hitting record highs in opening deals as gains in IT and metal heavyweights like Wipro , Infosys , Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Steel were offset with losses in Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank , Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Power Grid. While the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex surged 129.91 points to a record high of 85,966.03, the broader NSE Nifty 50 rose 55.8 points to a fresh life-time high of 26,271.85.

As of 10:28 am, the Sensex was up 109 points at 85,946.06 and Nifty 50 index advanced 52 points to 26,268.10.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher as sentiment was boosted by China's latest stimulus measures. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.26 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 2.23 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1 per cent while South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.3 per cent.

Overnight, S&P 500 scored a record closing high and the Dow and Nasdaq rose on Thursday, as Micron Technology shares rallied and a strong US jobless claims report eased labor market concerns.

Back home, information technology (IT) shares came under buying interest after IT major Accenture reported better than anticipated quarterly earnings and guided for revenue growth in range of 3 per cent to 6 per cent igniting hopes of strong performance by Indian peers going ahead.

"For fiscal year 2025, Accenture expects revenue growth of 3 per cent to 6 per cent in local currency and GAAP EPS of $12.55 to $12.91, an increase of 5 per cent to 8 per cent from adjusted EPS for fiscal 2024," Accenture said in an earnings release.

The measure of IT shares on the National Stock Exchange, Nifty IT index, rose 2.75 per cent with all the constituents trading higher.

Metal shares were also witnessing buying interest after China announced a slew of measures to revive its slowing economy including cutting 7-day reverse repo rate by 20 basis points. China is one of the biggest market for Indian metal manufacturers. The measure of metal stocks rose 1 per cent with thirteen of 15 shares in the index trading higher.

On the other hand, banking, real estate, auto and financial services shares were facing selling pressure on account of profit booking.

Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing a mild buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.3 per cent.

Infosys was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.78 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,974. Wipro , Hindalco, Tech Mahindra , LTI Mindtree, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharat Petroleum and Tata Steel also rose between 1.2-2.6 per cent.

On the flipside, Power grid, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, ONGC , Divi's Labs, Mahindra & Mahindra , HDFC Bank , ICICI Bank , Tata Consumer Products and Maruti Suzuki were among the losers.