Two market heavyweights — Reliance Industries and Infosys — met with contrasting reactions to their quarterly numbers on Friday. While the shares of the oil-to-telecom giant spurted 2.57 per cent, those of the Bengaluru-based software major were clobbered by 5.77 per cent.

Infosys posted better-than-expected profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2024 and raised the revenue growth guidance for the fiscal — the market reaction, therefore, was on the basis of the old adage that the devil lies in the details.

Though Infosys raised the guidance for 2024-25, its projection implied a weak fourth quarter.

Besides, the company beat topline estimates because of high ‘pass-through revenues’ (software or other third-party items bought for clients which is booked as revenue). This may dissipate in the January-March quarter, the brokerages said. In Reliance, the stock rose as the company rebounded from the softness seen in the past two quarters.

Infosys has forecast a revenue growth of 4.5-5 per cent in constant currency terms, up from the 3.75-4.5 per cent guidance provided in the second quarter.

Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services said the company’s revenues of $4.9 billion, which showed a growth of 1.7 per cent in sequential terms was higher than its estimate of 1 per cent rise. The brokerage added that the top end of guidance implied a sequential decline of around 1 per cent for the fourth quarter.

The topline growth at Infosys is almost entirely driven by pass-through revenues, casting a shadow of doubt over its sustainability of growth.

“The revenue beat in the third quarter was largely driven by unusually high pass-through revenues; we view this as a double-edged sword. We expect these revenues to unwind in the fourth quarter, likely resulting in a muted 1 per cent QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) decline at the top end of guidance,’’ the brokerage said.

Kotak Institutional Equities said such pass-through income as a percentage of Infosys’s revenues was the highest ever in the third quarter.

Analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said though Infosys raised its guidance, the revised numbers imply a sequential decline of 2.5 to 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter because of the absence of pass-through income and lesser working days.

Brokerages, however, have an optimistic view on Reliance. “RIL’s December quarter results represented an improvement against soft earnings prints in the prior two quarters,’’ analysts at Macquarie said in a report.

The consensus forecast says consolidated earnings per share (EPS) will rise 37 per cent from financial years 2025-27 on robust retail revenue growth, tariff, subscribers and margin expansion at Jio.

At the forex markets, the rupee settled at 86.61 compared with its last close of 86.55 to the greenback.The domestic currency was weighed by firm crude oil prices and global strength of the dollar as reflected in the dollar index or DXY. While the RBI is understood to have intervened, analysts said that the domestic unit will remain under pressure.

“Importer demand may also pressurise the rupee,’’ Anuj Choudhary, research analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan, said.