Nifty50 Falls Over 1 Per Cent In Early Trade, Sensex Falls Below 74,000 Mark As Domestic IT Stocks Trade In Red

Indian markets continued to trade under pressure on February 28 after closing flat in the previous session. The benchmark Nifty fell 1.42 per cent or 320.95 points to hit an intraday low of 22,224.1. The 30-share Sensex also hit an intraday low at 73,579.44 levels, declining 1,032.99 points or 1.38 per cent.

A decline in the price of shares of key domestic IT players contributed to the fall seen in the benchmark Nifty. Shares of Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd dragged the Nifty 50 lower as they fell by up to 4.3 per cent in early morning trade.

Shares of Infosys declined 4.26 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 1,689 apiece on the NSE. On the other hand shares of TCS fell 4.3 per cent to an intraday low of Rs 3,457 apiece on the NSE.

The two stocks hold significant weightage in the Nifty50 index with Infosys Ltd holding a 6.42 per cent weightage and Tata Consultancy Services holding a 3.98 per cent weightage among the top constituents of the benchmark index.

Why Are Domestic IT Stocks Declining

Indian IT stocks continued to decline on February 28 amid business activity slowing down in the US. Notably, the US is a major market for India’s IT-enabled services sector. S&P Global February’s flash PMIs (Purchasing Managers Index) said that business in the US is witnessing signs of slowdown on account of rising uncertainty and disruptions caused by recent policy initiatives such as the imposition of tariffs taken by US President Donald Trump. US tariffs are likely to impact deal pipelines for domestic players and negatively impact business momentum.

How Nifty IT Fared

The Nifty IT index which tracks the performance of the IT segment of the market in India also extended losses in today’s trade. The index has closed in the red for six straight sessions between February 18 and February 27.

Shares of major domestic IT sector companies which are part of the Nifty IT index declined up to 5.53 per cent on February 28. Shares of Tech Mahindra slipped 5.53 to trade at Rs 1,500.35 apiece on the NSE. Earlier today the stock fell 5.98 per cent to an intraday low of Rs 1493.25 apiece on the NSE. Stocks of other key IT sector players such as Wipro, HCL Tech and LTI Mindtree declined between 3.36 per cent and 4.69 per cent.

Stocks of other IT sector companies which are a part of the Nifty IT index such as Mphasis Ltd, Persistent Ltd, Coforge Ltd and L&T Technology Services Ltd between 3.25 per cent and 5.26 per cent.