Mumbai: The Indian equity markets posted notable losses early on Friday as IT stocks plummeted for the second consecutive session tracking weakness in US tech stocks over AI fears. As of 9.25 am, Sensex lost 672 points, or 0.80 per cent, to reach 83,002, and Nifty lost 207 points, or 0.80 per cent, at 25,600. Main broad-cap indices posted stronger losses than benchmark indices, as the Nifty Midcap 100 declined 1.38 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 dipped 1.62 per cent. All sectoral indices traded in the red. Most notable loser was Nifty IT, down 4.43 per cent.
Realty was down 2.70 per cent and media down 1.26 per cent. Immediate support for Nifty is placed at 25,650-25,700 zone, while resistance is anchored at 25,900-25,950 zone, market watchers said. Bank Nifty in the previous session touched a high of 60,864, slipped to a low of 60,597, and finally closed marginally lower at 60,739. Resistance is seen at 60,950–61,050, while support is placed at 60,450–60,550, analysts said. Analysts said that the selloff in IT stocks was triggered by renewed fears that advanced AI tools could replace traditional services that generate large revenue streams for the Indian IT firms.
The launch earlier this month by Anthropic of “Claude Cowork,” an AI assistant, had sparked fears of enterprise automation plug‑ins that could handle complete business workflows in an automated manner. Asia-Pacific markets made losses in the morning session, tracking Wall Street declines over fears of artificial intelligence (AI) disruption eating into profit margins of traditional IT firms by automating several tasks. In Asian markets, China's Shanghai index dipped 0.66 per cent, and Shenzhen declined 0.65 per cent, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.72 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased 1.77 per cent.
South Korea's Kospi added 0.33 per cent. The US markets ended largely in the red overnight as Nasdaq eased 2.04 per cent. The S&P 500 dipped 1.57 per cent, and the Dow Jones lost 1.34 per cent. On February 12, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought equities worth Rs 108 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of equities worth Rs 277 crore.
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