Is the tech party over?

It was a bad day for the stock markets with technology shares taking the maximum beating. Investor wealth 8212; market capitalisation 151...

It was a bad day for the stock markets with technology shares taking the maximum beating. Investor wealth 8212; market capitalisation 8212; fell by a whopping Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 15,81,934 crore in the selling avalanche triggered by the disappointing Infosys future guidance.

Though the fall 8212; which sent the Sensex plummeting by 220 points 8212; was across the board, tech stocks reeled under sustained investor hammering. All the 15 BSE sectoral indices lost ground in the rage of 1-6.17 per cent, with the BSE IT sector recording the biggest fall. Led by Infosys Technologies down 7.3 per cent to Rs 1,957.10, the BSE IT Index lost 6.17 per cent or 160.20 points to 2434.47.

Market capitalisation M-cap of IT companies too registered a sharp decline. Infosys Technologies lost a whopping Rs 3,943 crore from its M-cap, a decline of 6.93 per cent to Rs 52,941 crore over its April 13 level of Rs 56,884 crore. Wipro showed a decline of 6.29 per cent in M-cap, while Satyam Computer lost Rs 791 crore.

8220;As expected, the markets are correcting strongly, and this provides investors who were waiting for an entry-level. This temporary movement in the markets has little to do with the underpinnings of the Indian economy,8221; said the CEO of a mutual fund house.

EXPERT-SPEAK

K Vijayan, CEO, JM Financial: 8220;The rise in US interest rates has also seen some amount of selling in equities in emerging markets. The rise in US rates have seen a shift in money from equities to debt.8221;

Alok Vajpeyi, MD, Dawnay Day Financial: 8220;The market is in an oversold position following selling due to the regional factors8230; expect the Indian indices to bounce back on compelling valuations.8221;

A Sharma, Executive V-P, IDBI Capital: 8220;Infosys guidance is perceived to be lower than expected. The market will recover after the clarification regarding stamp duty. Fundamantally it8217;s still on strong ground though global influence will become more pronounced.8221;