After running hard for the past few sessions, market continued its uptrend today as well. It has been hitting new all-time high everyday and is inching towards new milestone of 19,000. Every sector has participated in today’s uptrend except technology. Rupee appreciation against the dollar is the major cause behind all technology stocks. Rupee has appreciated the highest as comparede to other Asian peers against the dollar. It was up 11% from Jan till date. It is currently trading at 39.30 levels, a new nine year high.

Markets were waiting for Infosys’ results, which happened today but it came in as a negative signal to forthcoming IT companies results. Infosys Technologies reported just 1.9% growth in its second quarter net profit at Rs 1100 crore as against Rs 1,079 crore in previous quarter.

Its consolidated net sales surged by 8.8% to Rs 4,106 crore versus Rs 3,773 crore (QoQ). The operating profit margin increased to 31.27% from 28.73%.

In discussion with CNBC-TV18, management said that the company has lost Rs 2,000 crore in revenue due to rupee appreciation in second quarter. They also mentioned that the Rupee at 35/USD would impact manufacturing sector more than IT.

Results are in line with market expectations and the expansion in margins has come in as postive surprise but the guidance for future has been below analyst expectations, which dragged the stocks along with its peers. The BSE IT Index was down nearly 6% during the day despite rest of the market was trading at a new high.

Infosys touched a low of Rs 1961, down 7.7% against its previous close and ended down nearly 7% at Rs 1976.

Major impact was seen on Satyam, which will announce its results on October 23, 2007. The stock fell nearly 8.7% in an intraday trade and closed at Rs 447.95, down 7.5%. Wipro will announce its numbers on October 19. The stock was down 5.4% during the day. TCS, Tata’s group company, slipped 5.8% and HCL Tech dipped nearly 9%.

There was some relief as the management said that there are no visible signs of slowdown in IT spends and they are using efficiency leverages to offset rupee in short-term. Infosys is not too worried about currency appreciation and they are increasing exposure to European markets.

Scrip Name	Today's Low	Chg (%)	Closing Price	Chg (%)
Satyam	442.15	-8.69	447.95	-7.5
Infosys	1961	-7.70	1976	-6.99
HCL Tech	300.25	-8.99	312.25	-5.35
TCS	1060	-5.77	1071.9	-4.72
Patni Computer	470	-4.93	473.2	-4.28
i-flex Solutions	1850	-3.61	1857.65	-3.21
Wipro	476.15	-5.37	488.1	-2.99
MphasiS	285.1	-4.73	296.7	-0.85
Rolta	575	-1.10	581.8	0.07
Moser Baer	299.15	-1.58	309.55	1.84
Financial Tech	2492	0.02	2552.65	2.46
Tech Mahindra	1365	-5.27	1518.1	5.35
IT Index	4742.68	-6.07	4766.72	5.59

Sunil S Matkar