IT Stocks Plunge: Domestic Markets remain in Steep Losses

Mumbai, Feb 24: Negative cues from international markets and fears over new AI tools with advanced features triggered heavy selling in IT stocks, dragging overall sentiment down. As a result, the Sensex at one point plunged nearly 800 points.

At 9:54 a.m., the Sensex was down 731 points at 82,567, while the Nifty fell 201 points to 25,511. The rupee weakened by seven paise against the dollar, trading at 90.96. Shares of Coal India, Hindalco, Axis Bank, Power Grid Corporation, and Dr. Reddy’s Labs were in gains, while HCL Technologies, Eternal, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, and TCS were in losses.

Anthropic announced that its Claude AI tools could reduce modernization costs for software systems, raising concerns for Indian IT companies. Dollar strength and rising crude oil prices further weakened the rupee, impacting indices. Trump warned of heavy tariffs if countries misuse the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs, which weighed on U.S. markets Monday. On Tuesday, except for Nikkei and Shanghai, most Asian markets were trading lower.

IBM shares plunged over 13% in a single day after reports that Claude AI could modernize IBM’s programming language systems. This was IBM’s worst loss in 26 years, wiping out $40 billion in market value. IBM’s COBOL language is widely used in banking, insurance, and government systems, and modernizing it would normally take years and thousands of consultants.