Sensex, Nifty snap 5-day rally as IT sinks on Accenture

Market opens lower after five straight gains

Domestic benchmark indices opened sharply lower on Friday, snapping a five-session winning streak as selling pressure intensified in information technology stocks. The drop came after a strong rally in the previous week, when falling crude oil prices and easing geopolitical worries supported risk appetite. But the tone changed quickly as global cues turned cautious for the technology sector. Investors reacted to a weak read-through from Accenture’s earnings outlook, which raised concerns about the visibility of technology spending. The early slide pushed the Nifty below the 24,000 mark at multiple points in morning trade, a level many traders track closely. The Sensex also fell steeply, with intraday losses approaching the 800-830 point range in some updates. The selling was broad-based, with all major sectors reportedly in the red at the open.

The immediate trigger: Accenture’s guidance cut

The dominant driver of the day’s decline was a sharp sell-off in IT shares after Accenture reduced its full-year revenue growth forecast and offered a cautious outlook. Reuters reported that Accenture forecast quarterly sales below Wall Street expectations and lowered the upper end of its annual revenue outlook due to weakness in its Middle East business. That commentary fed into concerns that global clients remain careful on discretionary technology spending. Indian IT companies are sensitive to such signals because a large part of their revenue is linked to overseas enterprise demand. As the read-through spread, technology stocks corrected sharply across markets, and the weakness spilled into Indian benchmarks. The risk-off mood in IT outweighed supportive domestic factors that had been helping sentiment in the earlier rally. The result was one of the steepest single-session sectoral declines for IT in recent months, based on the moves cited for the Nifty IT index.

How the fall showed up on Sensex and Nifty

Market data points from early trade highlighted the speed of the decline. At around 9:15 a.m. IST (Reuters), the Nifty 50 was down 0.73% at 23,991.2 and the Sensex was down 0.72% at 76,852.86. By about 9:25 a.m., the Sensex was reported down 724.34 points (0.94%) at 76,685.64, while the Nifty50 fell 201.70 points (0.83%) to 23,966.30, slipping below 24,000. Another update at 9:47 a.m. put the Sensex down 730.22 points (0.94%) at 76,679.76 after touching 76,578.08, while the Nifty 50 was down 198.70 points (0.82%) at 23,969.30. At 10:13 a.m., the Sensex was still down 635.85 points (0.84%) at 76,774.13 and the Nifty50 was down 170.10 points (0.70%) at 23,997.90. These readings show the market remained under pressure through the morning, even as losses narrowed slightly at times.

IT takes the brunt as Nifty IT hits multi-year lows

IT stocks faced the most significant selling pressure, dominating the list of index laggards. The Nifty IT index was cited falling more than 6% in early trade, with one reading showing a 6.02% decline to 26,752.85. Another update said the IT index lost 5.1% with all 10 constituents declining at the open. The sell-off was also described as taking the index to a three-year low, with a low of around 26,634 cited in the updates. Large-cap names were hit hard, with Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and HCL Tech reported down 4-8% in early trade. The pressure was amplified by the sector’s global linkages and the market’s tendency to use multinational guidance as a near-term demand indicator. The decline in IT also weighed on broader market sentiment because of the sector’s index weight and its role in institutional portfolios.

From tailwinds to headwinds: why sentiment flipped

The decline followed a robust rally over the previous five sessions, during which the benchmark indices rose roughly 4.3-5%. That upswing was supported by declining crude oil prices amid developments in US-Iran peace negotiations and positive sentiment around the India-UK free trade agreement. Equity investors were reported to have gained ₹25.27 lakh crore in wealth during the five-session rally, underscoring how strong the momentum had been. But the market’s focus shifted back to global growth sensitivity, especially in export-facing sectors like IT. A prior session was also flagged as challenging for technology stocks following hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve. Against that backdrop, Accenture’s outlook acted as a fresh catalyst for de-risking.

What happened in the prior session

The sell-off came a day after benchmarks ended in positive territory for a fifth straight session. One update said that on Thursday, the Sensex gained 254 points to close at 77,409, while the Nifty settled at 24,168, up 0.34% or 82.30 points. These levels helped frame Friday’s decline as a sharp reversal from a strong near-term uptrend. The move also highlighted that the rally had been supported by macro and geopolitical tailwinds, which can fade quickly when a large sector sees a sudden sentiment shock. With IT leading the fall, the market’s defensive posture dominated even though crude and domestic fundamentals were described as improving.

Analyst and strategist commentary in focus

Reuters cited Goldman Sachs analysts saying they see a “negative read-across” for Indian IT companies from Accenture’s results, pointing to continued low visibility on the demand outlook. Separately, VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, was quoted as saying guidance cuts by Accenture triggered selling in Indian IT majors’ ADRs and could cause a correction in domestic IT stocks as well. The core message from these remarks was about uncertainty rather than a single-quarter performance issue. For investors, such commentary tends to raise questions on near-term deal conversion, discretionary spending, and the pace at which clients restart large transformation programs.

Key market snapshots (as reported)

Market impact: what the move means for investors

Friday’s drop showed how quickly sector-specific global signals can dominate domestic tailwinds. IT’s sharp fall pulled the broader market lower and erased gains in several sectors, according to the updates. The move also highlighted the market’s sensitivity to commentary on technology budgets, especially after a strong multi-session rally. With the Nifty moving below 24,000 in early trade, traders focused on whether that level holds as sentiment stabilises. The scale of the IT decline, including reports of all constituents falling, suggested broad risk reduction rather than stock-specific news. The earlier wealth creation figure of ₹25.27 lakh crore during the rally also put the reversal in context, as profit-taking often intensifies after rapid moves.

Conclusion

Indian equities broke a five-day winning streak as IT stocks led a sharp early decline, triggered by Accenture’s cut to revenue growth guidance and a cautious demand outlook. The Sensex and Nifty fell close to 1% in early trade in several updates, while the Nifty IT index was reported down more than 5-6% and at a three-year low. The prior rally had been driven by softer crude and easing geopolitical concerns, but global tech spending worries returned to the forefront. In the near term, investors are likely to track follow-through moves in IT, updates on global demand visibility, and broader risk cues from overseas markets.