By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares snapped a nine-day winning streak after Infosys tumbled over 9% and sparked a selloff in IT stocks, following the country’s No. 2 IT services exporter’s weak quarterly results and forecast.
The Nifty 50 closed 0.68% lower at 17,706.85. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.86% to 59,910.75.
The benchmark Nifty traded in a near-300 point range, its widest since March 13.
Infosys was the top drag on the Nifty after it forecast revenue growth hitting a six-year low in fiscal 2024 with U.S. and European clients deferring spending.
The IT index sank 4.71% to close at a six-month low. All 10 constituents were down between 1.5% and 10%.
HCLTech, the only IT company due to report results this week, fell nearly 3%. Tech Mahindra Ltd slid over 5%, also weighed down by a Citigroup downgrade to “sell”.
The decline in the market also mirrors weakness in the global markets, said two analysts. They expect the Nifty to find support in the 17,200-17,600 range and resistance at 18,200.
Global equities were subdued after data showing resilient U.S. core retail sales bumped up the odds of the Federal Reserve raising rates by 25 basis points in May. [MKTS/GLOB]
However, the steep drop in domestic stocks was mostly restricted to large-cap companies. The Nifty midcap 100 index and Nifty smallcap 100 logged gains of 0.39% and 0.33%, respectively.
Among other stocks, Nestle India Ltd jumped 4% ahead of the record date on April 21 for the payment of interim dividend. Nestle was the top gainer in the Nifty Fast Moving Consumer Goods index, which rose over 1%.
Power Grid Corp of India Ltd rose 2.36% to a 11-month high, while State Bank of India added 2.07% and was among the top gainers in the bank and financial services indexes.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Savio D’Souza and Sonia Cheema)
