JOIN US IT stocks ended on a mixed note in an overall sluggish market today, a day after the US-based Cognizant reported better-than-expected quarterly results as well as upped its revenue guidance for the year.
Shares of TCS, the country's largest IT services firm, ended with a gain of 1.62 per cent at Rs 2,519.25 on BSE.
Wipro edged up 0.52 per cent to close at Rs 544.50.On the other hand, Infosys fell by 1.38 per cent to Rs 1,966.75, Hexaware Technologies shed 0.75 per cent to Rs 277.25 and HCL Tech lost 0.58 per cent to Rs 911.50.
Brokers said that all these stocks had gained during the early trade but profit-booking and sluggish investor sentiment wiped out the gains.
Led by strong growth in healthcare business, IT services firm Cognizant yesterday notched up a 9.7 per cent increase in net profit at USD 382.9 million for the March quarter and also marginally upped its revenue guidance for the 2015 fiscal.
The US-based firm saw its revenue grow 20.2 per cent to USD 2.91 billion in the reported quarter from USD 2.42 billion in the year-ago period, higher than its own guidance of USD 2.88 billion.
The better-than-expected numbers are in contrast to those from its Indian counterparts like TCS and Infosys that posted muted quarterly earnings impacted by currency fluctuations.
Cognizant has marginally increased its revenue forecast for the fiscal 2015 to be up at least 19.3 per cent (to USD 12.24 billion) from its earlier forecast of at least 19 per cent growth (USD 12.21 billion) compared with 2014.
For the April-June quarter, it expects its revenue to be at least USD 3.01 billion.
In the stock market, the benchmark BSE Sensex ended the day 50.45 points lower at 27,440.14.