Profit booking in IT shares comes ahead of the start of the third quarter earnings season on January 12, when TCS and HCLTech are scheduled to announce their results.
The international brokerage has downgraded HCLTech shares to 'Hold' from ‘Outperform’, and cut its rating for Tech Mahindra to 'Outperform' from 'High Conviction Outperform'.
Nifty IT index was up nearly 1 percent, recovering after losing over 4 percent in the previous six sessions amid sustained profit booking.
Indian IT stocks are toggling between a volatile mix of earnings momentum, global demand, and talent costs, an analyst said.
IT stocks: Infosys' American Depository Receipt (ADR) surged sharply to fresh record highs on Friday, with the company clarifying that it is not aware of any material event which led to the sudden spike.
IT stocks: The rise in the share prices pushed the Nifty IT index more than 1% higher to hit its day’s high at 39,054.
IT shares had risen up to 2 percent over the past three sessions. The fall on Tuesday was largely attributed to profit booking at higher levels.
IT stocks: 'Sentiment weakened primarily due to rising caution ahead of the upcoming Fed meeting, with investors worried about the possibility of a tighter global monetary stance and its spillover impact on emerging markets,' said an analyst.
IT stocks: Federal Reserve is now expected to reduce its key interest rate by a quarter-percentage point during its FOMC meeting scheduled from December 9-10.
Nifty IT is trading around 1.5 percent higher, after closing more than 1 percent higher on Wednesday.
IT firms will benefit from the weakening of rupee as most of their revenue is generated in US dollars.
Nuvama said Indian IT companies outperformed expectations in the September quarter, with profit margins led by forex gains, operational efficiencies and robust deal-wins
The sharp rise in the share prices pushed the Nifty IT index up nearly 2 percent to emerge as the top sectoral gainer on the market today.
While announcing its Q4 results, consulting firm Accenture Plc said it expects US federal spending cuts on consultants to slow its growth next year.
IT stocks: TCS shares were the top loser on the Nifty IT index, hitting a fresh 52-week low of Rs Rs 2,956.90 apiece.
IT stocks: The Nifty IT index dropped around 0.7 percent to 35,009.70. This is the lowest level seen by the index in nearly two weeks.
IT stocks: The Nifty IT index is currently the top loser on the market today.
IT stocks: The Nifty IT index rose 1.5 percent in the morning to 37,006, extending gains for the third consecutive session.
A rate cut in the US is expected to increase the discretionary spending limit, which in turn benefits IT companies which derive a significant portion of their revenue from the American market.
Infosys shares reversed gains made in the previous session as analysts point to tax implications as major dampener for the Rs 18,000-crore share buyback.
Investors will closely track Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on Wednesday for guidance on the pace of further rate cuts.
Infosys, Wipro among other IT shares saw profit-booking as investors awaited US CPI data, due later in the day.
IT stocks: The Nifty IT index led gains among the major sectoral indices, extending strong gains for the second consecutive session after five-day losing streak.
IT stocks: The IT index stood at around 35,093, as seen at 10.50 am. It is currently the top sectoral gainer on the market today.
'Given the current landscape of heightened volatility and mixed technical signals, traders are advised to adopt a cautious 'sell-on-rise' strategy,' says Hardik Matalia.