The Indian stock market experienced a brutal selloff on Thursday, with benchmark indices falling sharply due to multiple headwinds. According to market reports, the NSE Nifty slumped 1.65%, or 373.6 points, to 22,229.45 as of 2:02 pm, while the 30-stock Sensex was down 1.50%, or 1,092.6 points, to 71,546.07. The decline was attributed to a confluence of factors including a hawkish RBI turn, elevated crude oil prices, and accelerated FII selling pressure.
TCS emerged as the top performer among defensive stocks, climbing up to 3% to trade at a high of ₹2,141.5. As reported by market sources, the country's largest software exporter found aggressive buying support as the sliding Indian rupee offered a natural margin cushion against rising operational costs. The stock's performance comes ahead of the company's results to be declared today, with estimates projecting a likely profitable quarter featuring a modest uptick in revenue and margins. TCS is expected to report revenue growth of about 13% year-on-year, while profit is anticipated to rise around 9%, according to the average of seven brokerages. On a sequential basis, however, growth is expected to remain soft, with most brokerages pencilling in constant-currency revenue increase of 0.5-0.6%.
The IT sector witnessed broad-based gains with heavyweight peers HCLTech and Infosys gaining nearly 2% each. According to market reports, this rally was likely a result of investors turning their attention to TCS, which is set to kick off the Q2 earnings season. Mphasis, Coforge, LTIMindtree, Tech Mahindra, Persistent Systems and Wipro shares gained 1-2% apiece, all gaining from the ripple effect as sectoral leaders TCS and Infosys were among the top gainers during Thursday's trade. The gains pushed the Nifty IT index nearly 2% higher, making it the top-performing sectoral index on Thursday, while most other sectoral indices remained in the red.
Titan emerged as one of the key gainers, rising up to 3% to a high of ₹4,467. As reported by market sources, the luxury watchmaker's rally was likely a result from the pullback from the lows on Wednesday, when the stock was hammered around 4% following a disappointing second-quarter business update. According to Nomura, Titan faces a steep comparison base in its core jewellery division after delivering growth of 40% in Q3, 45% in Q4, and 38% in Q1, with the brokerage warning of an optical sequential slowdown in topline growth from the third quarter onwards.
The rise in IT stocks came as the dollar eased slightly but remained close to multi-month highs, which typically supports sentiment towards Indian IT companies. Indian IT companies derive a major portion of their revenue from the US, so a stronger dollar means they earn more in rupee terms for the same dollar-denominated revenue. Additionally, ongoing concerns around the impact of artificial intelligence have also supported sentiment, with Indian IT services companies increasingly seen as a so-called 'anti-AI' trade. This sectoral strength contrasted sharply with the broader market weakness, highlighting the defensive nature of IT stocks during periods of market volatility.
