Most IT stocks drop ahead of Brexit referendum

Shares of seven IT companies fell 0.24% to 1.29% at 13:25 IST on BSE ahead of the divisive Brexit referendum.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 7.69 points or 0.03% at 26,773.34.

TCS (down 1.29%), MphasiS (down 1.03%), HCL Technologies (down 0.59%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.75%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.55%), Wipro (down 0.24%) and Infosys (down 0.33%) edged lower. Persistent Systems (up 0.63%), MindTree (up 0.99%) and Hexaware Technologies (up 4.58%) edged higher. The UK is the second biggest IT outsourcing market after the United States for the IT companies.

Brexit refers to the referendum by British voters today, 23 June 2016 to decide whether the country should remain a member of the European Union or leave it. The Brexit voting will close at 10 p.m. London time. Referendum results from the first counting areas are expected around 12:30 a.m. London time on Friday, 24 June 2016. The vote pits the Remain campaign, backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbon, against the Leave camp, led by the former London mayor, MP Boris Johnson. The latest opinion polls ahead of the Brexit referendum on European Union membership suggested that the remain camp is gaining momentum. On the eve of the historic vote, two polls - both conducted over the internet - put the Leave camp ahead by one or two percent. But a telephone poll gave Remain a sizeable lead of 48%, ahead of Leave with 42%, report said.

If the UK votes to leave the EU, it could send British pound and euro tumbling, with ripple effects across global asset classes.

The BSE IT index had underperformed the market over the past one month till 22 June 2016, advancing 2.84% compared with Sensex's 5.79% rise. The index had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 2.6% as against Sensex's 5.67% rise.

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