Wipro dips on muted IT services sales forecasts

Expects IT services business to be in the range of $1,520 million to $1,550 million for Q2FY13

Wipro Limited has dipped 4% at Rs 344 on reporting a lower-than-expected 18% year-on-year growth in net profit at Rs 1,580 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2012 and forecast subdued IT services sales for the current quarter.

Analysts, on an average, expected net profit of Rs 1,622 crore from the country's third-largest software firm.

The total income from operation during the quarter rose by 24% to Rs 10,620 crore from Rs 8,538 crore in the year-ago period.

“We expect revenues from our IT services business to be in the range of $1,520 million to $1,550 million for the quarter ending September 2012, a rise of 0.3 to 2.3 per cent from the June quarter,” Wipro said in a filing. Analysts were expecting Wipro to forecast a 2-4% increase.

The stock opened at Rs 353 and is currently trading at the day’s low on the National Stock Exchange. A combined 890,000 shares have changed hands on the counter in opening trades on both the exchanges.