IT stocks tumble on slump in ADRs, strong rupee

MUMBAI: IT stocks fell on Friday tracking a slump in the ADRs of IT companies in US markets on Thursday. Also, a strong rupee against dollar pushed the IT stocks lower on concern the appreciating rupee may hamper top line growth.

At 12:22 pm, BSE IT index was down 4.16 per cent to 2362 while BSE-30 share Sensex fell 1.75 per cent to 9068.

The top losers in IT stocks were Infosys Technologies (-4.85%), TCS (-3.91%), Satyam Computers (-3.35%) and Wipro (-2.75%).

On Thursday, ADR of Infosys fell 5.5 per cent, Satyam slumped 7 per cent and Wipro plunged 6.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee strengthened in early trade on Friday helped by a rise in Asian stocks, which fuelled expectations of some foreign fund inflows into the local shares, and a drop in oil prices.

The rupee was at 49.76/79 per dollar, 0.2 percent stronger than Thursday's close of 49.87/89. It had hit a record low of 50.65 on Tuesday.

Dealers attributed the rupee's gain to increased dollar selling by banks and exporters after a surging trend in global equity markets.