There is some good news for investors worried by the US financial sector crisis and its impact on the Indian bourses. The Indian capital markets have been slowly but steadily on a recovery path since the Bear Stearns fall on March 17. Till date, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) benchmark 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) has risen by 17.1 per cent. And, in an equally pleasant surprise, indices of sectors such as information technology (IT), technology and consumer durables have actually outperformed the benchmark index, jumping by 34 per cent, 23 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.

The information technology sector and its index have moved along a sloping curve ever since the rupee started appreciating against the greenback, particularly after it touched a high of 46.96 a dollar on July 19, 2006. Since that day, IT companies have been facing pressure on margins. Over the past month, however, the Indian currency has been slowly depreciating and bringing cheer to the country’s apprehensive infotech companies.

Explaining the gradual turnaround, India Infoline vice-president Manish Bandi said, “High crude oil prices and low funds inflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) over the past couple of months have played a significant role in the rupee’s 4-5 per cent depreciation. This has, in turn, triggered a recovery of stock prices of IT companies.” The technology and consumer durables segments, too, have been doing well. “The consumer durables segment has been growing well on the business front which now reflects in their stock price movement, though there is a little concern on raw material costs,” noted ICICI Direct head of research Pankaj Pandey.

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