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Shares of information technology (IT) companies fell up to 6 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Monday's intra-day trade after the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that higher inflation is likely to inflict pain across households and businesses.

At 09:23 am, the Nifty IT index was the top loser among sectoral indices, and was down 4.5 per cent, as compared to 2 per cent decline in Nifty 50. Meanwhile, in the past eight days, the index has slipped 10 per cent, as compared to 4 per cent decline in the Nifty 50 index.

Shares of Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Mindtree, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Coforge, HCL Technologies, Wipro and L&T Technology Services fell up to 6 per cent intoday's intra-day trade.

The April-June quarter (Q1FY23) saw execution pick up for IT companies as it is a first full quarter of execution (barring company specific seasonality) after full/partial impact of furlough in Q3 and Q4. Operating margins, however, were impacted due to wage hikes rolled out in the quarter for few companies, while for others, supply side challenges, increase in sub-contractor expenses, travel & visa related expenses acted as major headwinds.

Despite minor pain in select verticals of IT companies, analysts at ICICI Securities remain optimistic of no downward revision in revenue growth guidance for FY23.

"The demand environment continues to be strong, which reflects in healthy order book growth. However, companies did mention about weakness in a few pockets as far as tech spending is concerned due to some impact of macro headwinds. The weakness largely pertains to BFSI and retail verticals. It is also heartening to see no downward revision in revenue growth guidance in FY23 by any of the companies," the brokerage firm said.

On the contrary, a media report by the Economic Times stated that the revenue of the IT service providers may be impacted by up to 33 per cent due to a fall in the growth rate of three platforms - Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. In the first half of 2022, the three platforms have reported a 7 per cent fall in incremental revenues

The Congress on Monday slammed Ghulam Nabi Azad for his latest attack on its top leadership, saying he has been tasked to "slander" the party and by doing so he diminishes himself further.

Launching a fresh attack on the Congress three days after he quit the party, Azad said the party needs medicines for treating it which are being provided by compounders instead of doctors. He also accused the Congress leadership of not having time for setting the organisation right.

Speaking to reporters at his residence here, Azad who quit the party on Friday last, alleged that the leaders being projected in the party in states are making party members leave instead of uniting them.

Hitting back at Azad, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "After such a long career, courtesy entirely the party he's been tasked to slander, by giving interviews indiscriminately, Mr. Azad diminishes himself further."

"What's he afraid of that he's justifying his treachery every minute? He can be easily exposed but why stoop to his level?" he said on Twitter. Azad on Friday had ended his five-decade association with the party, terming it "comprehensively destroyed" and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism.

The rupee weakened to a new low against the US dollar on Monday as the greenback surged globally following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s firm commitment to tackling high inflation even at the cost of economic growth.

The rupee weakened to a low of 80.14 per US dollar in the first few minutes of trade on Monday as the US dollar index strengthened well past the 109 mark.

The previous lifetime low for the rupee was 80.06 per dollar on July 19. The domestic currency, which had settled at 79.87 per dollar on Friday, regained some ground due to the Reserve Bank of India’s market interventions through dollar sales, dealers said. The local unit was at 80.02 per dollar at 9:30 am IST.

At the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday, Powell said that “restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.”

The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six major rival currencies, was last at 109.33 as against 108.20 at the end of Indian market hours on Friday. The index has strengthened more than 14 per cent so far in 2022.

A stronger US dollar exerts pressure on emerging market currencies such as the rupee and weakens the appetite of overseas investors for Indian assets.

“The rupee has breached the recent lifetime low in line with the fall in other Asian currencies and is expected to now test 80.60 to 80.75 levels in the next one month,” Ritesh Bhansali, vice-president at Mecklai Financial Services, said.

The rupee has weakened a little more than 7 per cent in 2022.

Dealers said that the RBI had intervened in the market around the 80.05-80.10 per dollar mark and would prevent excessive volatility in the exchange rate.

“Now, it would be all about RBI’s tolerance or intolerance of these record levels. If they think to curb the same, then we could see easing up to 79.70-80 levels or else pressure will take the pair towards 80.30 levels,” CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said.

“For confirmation of the technical breakout, one should wait for initial hours and check whether the pair is holding 80.05 or not,” he said. He sees the rupee in a band of 79.70-80.30 per dollar for the day.

Petrol and diesel prices held steady on August 29, the latest price notification issued by fuel retailers showed. The prices have stayed unchanged for more than a month.

Petrol in Mumbai is being sold for Rs 106.31 per litre and diesel for Rs 94.27. Petrol and diesel in Delhi cost Rs 96.72 and Rs 89.62 a litre respectively. Petrol and diesel are priced at Rs 102.63 and Rs 94.24 in Chennai and at Rs 106.03 and Rs 92.76 in Kolkata respectively.

Oil marketing companies are reportedly incurring a loss of Rs 13.08 a litre on petrol and Rs 24.09 on diesel. India meets 80 percent of its fuel needs through imports.

The Meghalaya government on August 25 hiked the prices of petrol and diesel.

Oil mixed as OPEC supply cut prospect offsets demand fears

Oil prices were mixed on Monday as investors balanced expectations the OPEC will cut output to support prices against concerns sparked by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying the United States will face slow growth "for some time".

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 2 cents to $93.08 a barrel at 0003 GMT, adding to Friday's gain.

Brent crude futures were down 27 cents, or 0.3%, at $100.72 a barrel, trimming gains from the previous session.

In a speech on Friday, Powell said curbing inflation "is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth" and would "bring some pain to households and businesses", which rattled equity markets while boosting the dollar.

The dollar index continued to climb on Monday to 109.16, up 0.3% in early trade. A stronger dollar weighs on oil as it makes crude more costly for buyers holding other currencies.