IT stocks bleed mirroring Nasdaq plunge; Nifty IT index down 3.4%

Information technology (IT) stocks plunged on Wednesday, mirroring a slide in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite of the US a day earlier after hotter-than-expected inflation data triggered risk-off bets.

The Nifty IT index fell 3.4 per cent, with all its 10 components ending with losses. A downgrade by Goldman Sachs also dampened sentiment towards tech stocks, which have been reeling from selling pressure this year.

On a year-to-date basis, the index is down 27.3 per cent, even as the Nifty50 index is up close to 4 per cent. The sharp underperformance is because of concerns that companies might scale back their IT budgets amid an uncertain global growth outlook.