Indian Shares Fall as IT Stocks Slide on AI-Driven Global Tech Rally

Indian shares fell notably in early trade on Wednesday, with the benchmark BSE Sensex dropping 500 points, or 0.7 percent, to 73,100 and the NSE Nifty index down 114 points, or half a percent, at 22,635, as information technology stocks came under heavy selling pressure. IT shares declined 3-4 percent, including HCL Technologies, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis and Infosys, as renewed global optimism around artificial intelligence pulled capital toward U.S. tech. Meta Platforms' upsized $25 billion share sale ended five times oversubscribed, Broadcom announced a $63 billion AI hardware deal, and Oracle expanded its OpenAI and Nvidia partnerships. Jio Platforms debuted at Rs. 1,368 versus an IPO price of Rs. 1,119. Reliance Industries fell about 1 percent ahead of an October 30 board meeting on quarterly results, while Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports and Adani Enterprises each fell over 1 percent ahead of Q2 earnings due today. Larsen & Toubro rose 4.6 percent on a 33 percent year-on-year rise in Q2 consolidated profit after tax, Bajaj Auto climbed 3.3 percent on a 35 percent quarterly profit increase, and Tata Capital gained 3.4 percent after profit jumped 51 percent. Maruti Suzuki was little changed after a 26 percent year-on-year drop in quarterly profit.