IT stocks down up to 5 pc on profit-booking

IT stocks today fell by up to 5 per cent on emergence of profit-booking amid rising pressure on Indian software firms.
Shares of Hexaware Tech tumbled 5.22 per cent, TCS went down by 2.97 per cent and Tech Mahindra lost 2.13 per cent on BSE.
Among others, Wipro fell by 2.10 per cent, MindTree (1.89 per cent), Infosys (1.83 per cent) and HCL Technologies (1.23 per cent).
The BSE IT index declined by 1.97 per cent to close at 10,315.26.
TCS, Wipro and Infosys were the biggest laggards on the benchmark Sensex.
In the previous trading session, IT services majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained as much as 3.70 per cent on good amount of buying activity after recent sell-offs.

Top seven India-based IT companies in the US collectively experienced a whopping 37 per cent drop in approved H-1B visa petitions in 2016 as compared to the previous year, according to a new report that comes amid the Trump administration's crackdown on the "visa abuse".
The companies experienced a drop of 5,436 approved petitions (37 per cent) in 2016 as compared to previous year, a report by the National Foundation for American Policy - a Washington-based non-profit think-tank said yesterday.