IT scrips thrashed once again

MUMBAI: IT stocks came in for a sound thrashing in early trades, as lower-than-anticipated earnings from another tech blue chip unnerved the markets once again. It can be recalled that the BSE IT Index plunged nearly 250 points to 1079.94 and the BSE Sensex crashed more than 100 points from their opening levels on April 10 after technology bellwether Infosys announced Q4 and FY03 earnings that failed to meet consensus estimates and a guidance that fell short of expectations.

Following the bloodbath at the bourses last Thursday, the market was waiting for the Wipro numbers and guidance with bated breath. Though Wipro failed to send the markets crashing like Infy, the BSE IT Index did slump 59.29 points or 5.54 per cent to 1011.61, with Wipro leading the losers at Rs 882.00, down 8.50 per cent.

Infosys (-4.71% at Rs 2,883.00), Satyam (-6.90% at Rs 146.50), HCL Technologies(-3.41% at Rs 140.30) and Digital Global (-2.25% at Rs 518.00) followed suit. Majority of the other second rung IT scrips also followed the leaders into red.

Wipro reported a one per cent fall in net profit to Rs 216.2 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2003 compared to Rs 220.6 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2002. Total income rose 18.8 percent from Rs 950.1 crore in the March quarter of 2002 to Rs 1,128.8 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2003. Total revenues went up 31 per cent on the back of higher profits in global IT services.

Source: IRIS

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