Sensex tests: IT shares low on US recession fears

Indian markets were witnessing a sell-off across the board, in line with peers, as investors exited equities on fears of global economic crisis. The selling pressure intensified following the weakness in European peers.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was at 16086.83, down 382.96 points or 2.33 per cent. The 30-share index touched 52-week low of 15987.77 and high of 16287.72.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty was at 4826.05, down 118.10 points or 2.39 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 4893.60 and 52-week low of 4796.10 in trade so far.

BSE Midcap Index was down 2.08 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index edged 2.64 per cent lower.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE IT Index plunged 4.99 per cent, BSE Capital Goods Index fell 4 per cent lower and BSE Bankex declined 2.20 per cent.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 2242 losers against 559 gainers.

"Current weak tone is likely to extend and prices could test the supports at 4920 & 4856 in the coming 2-3 sessions.

As the aforesaid oscillators are already hovering in the oversold territory prices are expected to see some buying interest in the said support zone and attempt an upside recovery towards 5200 and even higher.

However inability to hold support at 4856 would extend the fall towards the May low of 4786 delaying the expected recovery," said Aditya Birla Money report

Shares in India's leading software services companies including Infosys slumped to their lowest level in 21 months on Friday as investors retreated from the exporters on heightened fears of a recession in the United States, the top market for the sector.

Sector leader Tata Consultancy Services fell up to 6 per cent, Infosys dropped as much as 7.8 per cent and No. 3 Wipro shed as much as 5.4 per cent in the Mumbai market that was down 2.4 per cent. India's three largest IT companies dragged the country's IT index down as much as 3.8 per cent to its lowest level since November 2009.

HCL Technologies Ltd , the No. 4 software services firm, dropped as much as 7.8 per cent to 365.70 rupees on today after falling more than 6 per cent in the previous session.