Equity benchmarks traded near the day’s low in afternoon deals on Friday, weighed down by a sharp sell-off in information technology stocks after Accenture’s guidance cut triggered concerns over the outlook for global technology spending.

BSE Sensex plunged more than 850 points to an intraday low of 76,557.31, while the NSE Nifty 50 fell over 230 points to 23,936.25. The decline comes after weak sentiment in global technology stocks spilled over to domestic markets, with investors exiting frontline IT names.

At 12.25 pm, Sensex traded 735.83 points or 0.95 per cent lower at 76,674.15, and Nifty 50 fell 204.15 points or 0.84 per cent to 23,963.85.

The Nifty IT index remained the worst-performing sectoral gauge, falling over 5 per cent at the time of writing. Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, HCLTech and Wipro were among the top drags on the benchmark indices, with Infosys, TCS and Wipro hitting fresh 52-week lows during the session.

Market sentiment turned cautious after Accenture lowered its FY26 revenue growth guidance, sparking a sell-off in Indian IT majors and their American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

Nifty 50 movers today

Among Nifty 50 stocks, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, HCLTech and Wipro emerged as the biggest laggards, while NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel and Jio Financial Services bucked the trend and traded with gains.

Apart from IT, telecom, realty and banking stocks also witnessed selling pressure. Pharma, healthcare and media were the only sectors that managed to stay in positive territory.

Broader markets show resilience

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices despite the weakness in large-cap technology stocks. The Nifty Smallcap index rose 0.28 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index slipped marginally by 0.14 per cent.

Market breadth remained negative. Of the 3,206 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,462 advanced, 1,652 declined and 92 remained unchanged.

Around 100 stocks touched fresh 52-week highs, while 35 stocks hit 52-week lows. A total of 95 stocks were locked in the upper circuit, while 52 hit the lower circuit.

Midcap & smallcap movers today

In the midcap space, Bharat Dynamics, BHEL, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and Laurus Labs gained 3-4 per cent. On the other hand, Persistent Systems, Mphasis, Tata Elxsi and Coromandel International declined 3-4 per cent.

Among smallcaps, Piramal Finance, Jyoti CNC, IFCI and Redington advanced 6-7 per cent, while Aditya Birla Real Estate, Zensar Technologies, MRPL and BEML fell 2-4 per cent.

On the BSE, Transformers and Rectifiers (India) and Garware Technical Fibres surged over 13 per cent, while Infosys, TCS, LTI, Tech Mahindra and Latent View Analytics featured among the top losers.

Key levels to watch

According to Sudeep Shah, Head of Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities, the frontline indices failed to sustain above their 100-day exponential moving average after opening with a sharp downward gap, primarily due to the weakness in IT stocks following Accenture’s guidance cut.

Shah said the Nifty zone of 23,810-23,830 will act as a crucial support area, while resistance is placed between 24,060 and 24,080.

He added that a break below 23,810 could drag the index towards 23,700-23,650. Conversely, a move above 24,080 may extend the rally towards 24,280.

On the derivatives front, Shah noted significant call writing at the 24,000 and 24,100 strike prices, while the highest put open interest was concentrated at the 23,900 strike, followed by 23,800.

For the Sensex, he sees support at 76,200 and resistance around 77,000.

On Thursday, Sensex rose 254.36 points or 0.33 per cent to close at 77,409.98, while the Nifty 50 gained 82.30 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 24,168.00.

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Published on June 19, 2026