Markets fall in early trade dragged by IT stocks, weak trends from Asian peers

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| Photo Credit: Reuters

Benchmark equity indices tanked in early trade on March 22, surrendering their two days of rally, dragged down by IT stocks, weak trends from Asian markets and continuous foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 413.36 points to 72,227.83. The NSE Nifty skidded 86.8 points to 21,925.15.

From the Sensex basket, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors were the major laggards.

The BSE IT index fell by 2.85% in the early trade.

Sun Pharma, Titan, Bharti Airtel and ITC were among the gainers.

“IT is likely to remain under pressure in view of the poor guidance from Accenture,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting lower while Tokyo traded in the positive territory.

Wall Street ended with gains on Thursday.

“IT stocks may see a slowdown following Accenture’s revised revenue forecast,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said in his pre-opening market comment.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,826.97 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.71% to $85.17 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark jumped 539.50 points or 0.75% to settle at 72,641.19 on Thursday. The NSE Nifty climbed 172.85 point or 0.79% to 22,011.95.