In an otherwise grim stock market that failed to cheer the government Rs 21 lakh crore economic package and tanked 1,068 points only two stocks ended the day with gains -- TCS and Infosys.

In an otherwise grim stock market that failed to cheer the government Rs 21 lakh crore economic package and tanked 1,068 points only two stocks ended the day with gains -- TCS and Infosys. The Information technology giants jumped 2.72% and 1.73% respectively, detaching themselves from the equity benchmarks. Even on the 50-stock NSE Nifty, three among the six stocks to end in green were IT stocks. The Nifty IT index jumped 0.89%, becoming the only sectoral index to end the day with gains while the NSE Nifty 50 was down 313 points, ending the trading session below the 8,900 level.

IT stocks gained primarily because of the Rupee inching higher during the trading hours, said Vishal Wagh, Research Head, Bonanza Portfolio. He added, “The information technology sector always gets support when the dollar gains and that is what happened today.” TCS jumped 2.49% on Nifty, while Infosys surged 1.1%, and HCL Technologies gained 0.34%. With IT companies strapping up and getting ready for the changed world post coronavirus have declared how they will be asking employees to work from home and some have even decided to shift the majority workforce to the work-from-home model.

“The new trend of working from home will also help IT companies. Banks that might want to shift their model to work from home will rely on these IT companies to provide them with the resources to make the shift possible,” Wagh said. IT firms have been providing business solutions to firms across the globe and emerging to the new challenge could see them gaining business.

Heavy-weights of the index such as Reliance, HDFC, HUL, and SBI could not emerge out of the red during the day’s trade. While Reliance Industries fell 1.25% ahead of its Rs 53,125 crore rights issue, HDFC Bank dived 5.83%, HUL slipped 1.30%, and SBI tanked 6.61% on the S&P BSE Sensex.

Heavy-weights of the index such as Reliance, HDFC, HUL, and SBI could not emerge out of the red during the day’s trade. While Reliance Industries fell 1.25% ahead of its Rs 53,125 crore rights issue, HDFC Bank dived 5.83%, HUL slipped 1.30%, and SBI tanked 6.61% on the S&P BSE Sensex.