Benchmark stock market indices opened higher on Friday, snapping their recent losing streak as Infosys shares rallied alongside broader gains in IT stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 358.23 points to 83,740.94, while the NSE Nifty50 advanced 87.55 points to 25,753.25 as of 9:54 am.

Commenting on the market mood, Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, said investors are likely to react to the steady flow of Q3 earnings.

“Better-than-expected results will lead to stock-specific action, but these are unlikely to push the broader market to significantly higher levels,” he said.

IT stocks lead gains

Infosys was the top gainer in early trade, climbing 4.71%, followed by Tech Mahindra, which jumped 2.33%. Mahindra & Mahindra gained 1.20%, HCL Technologies rose 1.16%, and Bajaj Finserv advanced 0.88%, rounding out the top five gainers.

Select stocks under pressure

On the downside, Eternal emerged as the biggest loser, falling 2.69%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries slipped 1.70%, Bharti Airtel declined 1.59%, Bharat Electronics fell 0.83%, and Maruti Suzuki eased 0.43%, making them the worst performers after the opening bell.

Outlook remains cautious

Vijayakumar said the market lacks strong triggers for a decisive move in either direction. “A directionless drift is the likely trend,” he said, adding that a potential US Supreme Court ruling—which could have caused sharp global volatility—has been delayed and is unlikely to influence markets in the near term due to the absence of a clear timeline.

He also cautioned that any minor rallies could be capped by continued foreign institutional investor (FII) selling. “The increasing short positions being built by FIIs suggest that sustained selling may continue in the near term until a positive trigger leads to a trend reversal,” he said.

For long-term investors, however, Vijayakumar said the current phase of weak, range-bound movement offers opportunities to gradually accumulate high-quality growth stocks available at reasonable valuations.