Sensex snaps 9-day gaining streak, settles below 60k level

Mumbai: The key indices of the domestic equity markets snapped their nine-day gaining streak due to a sell-off in IT, tech and telecom.

Though the global cues became stronger during the session, it failed to lift the indices. Last week, the corporate earnings of TCS and Infosys had failed to meet the markets' expectations. Shares of Infosys dropped over 9 per cent as intense selling was seen with the stocks on Monday. The IT firm had lower-than-expected revenue guidance for FY24.
BSE Sensex dropped 520 points to settle at 59,910.75 and ended below the 60k level, and NSE Nifty lost 121 points to end at 17,706.85 on Monday. During the session, it plunged 988.53 points or 1.63 per cent to 59,442.47.

The largest sell-off was seen in Infosys during the session. The selloff was across the board in IT stocks as Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, TCS and Wipro ended up to 5 per cent lower.

Among the constituents, Infosys slipped 9.42 per cent, Tech Mahindra dropped 5.24 per cent and LTI Mindtree was down 6.75 per cent.
According to NSE, the Nifty IT index is down 21 per cent over last one year compared to the 1.32 per cent surge in benchmark Nifty 50 index.
Some of the reasons why the indices made losses on Monday was because of the IT stocks decline, profit-booking, missed earnings by both HDFC twins and the muted global cues.

"The earnings reports, primarily from the IT and banking sectors, will influence market trends in the coming days. We expect Nifty50 earnings to grow by 10 per cent in Q4 FY23, driven by banking and finance, auto, telecom, and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods)," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

India's annual wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation eased to 29-month low of 1.34 per cent in March 2023 as compared to 3.85 per cent recorded in February 2023 and 14.63 per cent in March 2022, according to government data revealed on Monday.
"Decline in the rate of inflation in March, 2023 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of basic metals, food products, textiles, non-food articles, minerals, rubber and plastic products, crude petroleum and natural gas and paper and paper products," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said. (ANI)