Sensex drops 100 points on sell-off in IT stocks, Nifty below 23,200 mark

IT stocks amid concerns over discretionary spending in the U.S.

The BSE Sensex was down 114 points, or 0.15%, at 76,234, while the Nifty50 slipped 14 points, or 0.06%, to 23,176 around 9:19 am.

The Nifty IT index dropped over 2% after global IT consultancy firm Accenture warned of reduced discretionary spending. Accenture shares fell 7.3% overnight.

Among Sensex stocks, Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, Zomato, and Tech Mahindra were the top laggards, falling up to 2.3%. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, and NTPC opened with gains.

In individual stocks, Ola Electric Mobility surged 5% in early trade after the company attributed discrepancies in its February sales data to a temporary backlog caused by ongoing negotiations with vehicle registration vendors.

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Meanwhile, the FTSE March semi-annual review takes effect later today, with IIFL estimating net inflows of $1.4 billion into India.

FTSE has added 360 ONE WAM, Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, BSE, and other stocks to the FTSE All World Index, while increasing the weights of ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Experts View

«The rally in the market this week which saw the Nifty rise by 3.5% has come at a time when trade tensions are escalating and more is expected when the reciprocal tariffs kick in on April 2nd. The main driver of the rally is the buying by FIIs in the cash market in two days and perhaps, more importantly, sharp decline in their short positions and increase in long positions in the futures