IT stocks pulls benchmarks lower; Sensex slips over 100 points

Market edged lower in noon deals dragged down by software stocks. IT index bellwether Infosys dragged the benchmark Sensex 60 points lower. The BSE IT (information technology) index touched its five-month low levels earlier and is trading 3% lower at this hour.

HCL Tech slipped over 4%, Infosys is down 3.4%, Tech Mahindra is down almost 3% and Wipro shed over 2% from the IT pack.

IT stocks came under pressure after global investment bank UBS downgraded the bellwether Infosys to 'sell' citing the longer-than-expected turnaround time at the IT outsourcer. A stronger rupee added to the pressure faced by IT stocks

The rupee is trading at 60.06 versus its previous close of 60.11/12 on broad losses in the dollar versus other major and regional units, but a sharp fall will be averted on caution ahead of the national elections outcome next week.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark at this hour with both the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading 0.3-0.4% higher, outperforming Sensex's 0.4% dip.

Meanwhile, shares in Asia stumbled to a one-month low and the safe-haven yen hovered just below a multi-month high against the dollar on Wednesday as the heightened possibility of Ukraine slipping into civil war depressed risk appetite.

Ukraine has so far experienced its deadliest week since the separatist uprising began, leaving less room for peace efforts.

Buzzing stocks

Among sectors, the IT index slipped almost 3%, while power and consumer durable stocks surged 1% higher. Consumer Durables index (up 1.6%) was the top sectoral gainer followed by Healthcare and Power indices.

NTPC, Sun Pharma, BHEL and SBI firmed by 1-2% and were the top gainers among Sensex-30. Axis Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors, Coal India, Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite up 0.2-0.8% were the other notable gainers.

In individual names, IRB Infrastructure Developers strengthened by 5% to Rs 121 in an otherwise weak market after the company said it has bagged an order worth around Rs 2,300 crore from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Shriram City Union Finance gained 2.3% on huge block deal. About 1.65 million shares, representing 2.8% of total equity capital of Shriram City Union Finance, have changed hands at a price of Rs 1,251 per share in opening trades via block deal, the BSE data shows. However, the name of the buyers and sellers are not known.

The market breadth was marginally negative. 1,214 stocks declined while 1,210 stocks advanced.