IT stocks face selling pressure; Hexaware Tech tanks over 4 pc

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) IT stocks continued to face selling pressure on Friday in-line with weak trends in tech firms globally amid valuation-related worries and concerns around the rapid pace of artificial intelligence advancements.

Shares of Hexaware Technologies tumbled 4.14 per cent, LTIMindtree declined 2.26 per cent, Persistent Systems edged lower by 2.24 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services dropped 1.69 per cent and Tech Mahindra dipped 1.69 per cent on the BSE.

The stock of Wipro declined 1.14 per cent and Infosys lost 0.85 per cent.

The BSE Focused IT index tanked 1.71 per cent to 41,571.91.

IT stocks had tumbled on Wednesday also, with Infosys slumping over 7 per cent, in-line with heavy selloff in tech companies in the US. Majority of the IT stocks had fallen in the previous trade also.

"IT stocks remained under pressure, extending recent losses, with the index down nearly 9 per cent over the past three sessions amid concerns around the rapid pace of artificial intelligence advancements and continued weakness in global technology stocks following the launch of a new legal AI tool by Anthropic," Siddhartha Khemka -- Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd -- said.

Helped by fag-end buying, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 266.47 points, or 0.32 per cent, to settle at 83,580.40. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 50.90 points, or 0.20 per cent, to end at 25,693.70.

Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said, "A notable sell-off in the IT sector, driven by concerns over the disruptive impact of new AI technologies and related valuation worries, further contributed to the negative bias." PTI SUM TRB