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Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd

Mumbai: Investors in India's battered information technology sector found a brief respite on Wednesday as software services stocks rebounded, snapping a five-session losing streak. However, analysts cautioned that the relief may be fleeting; most derivative wagers remain bearish following the IT index's 22% plunge during the February series. The Nifty IT index closed 1.6% higher at 30,526.35 on Wednesday, giving up a portion of the 3.1% gains notched up early in the day. The Nifty gained 0.2%, or 57.85 points, to close at 25,482.5 after rising as much as 0.9%. The IT stock benchmark had dropped 9% over the previous five sessions against the 1.2% decline in Nifty. The sector has been under sustained pressure throughout February. Concerns intensified following the launch of new tools by San Francisco-based AI firm Anthropic, which triggered a sell-off fuelled by anxieties over future revenue and order wins. Following the expiry of Nifty's February futures and options contracts on Tuesday, the oversold IT pack gained ground on Wednesday, led by short covering. 128798384 Cautious Signals Sudeep Shah, head of Technical and Derivative Research at SBI Securities, said the index continues to exhibit underlying weakness despite the near-term bounce. "While the sharp dip in RSI (Relative Strength Index) below 20 triggered some technical rebound on Wednesday, the broader trend remains cautious with short positions largely intact, as seen in rollover of over 90% positions from February to March," he said. "The initial strength, which is usually seen on the first day of the new series, may not sustain, as the bounce appears driven more by short covering than fresh long build-up." At the end of every monthly derivatives contract, traders must choose to either exit their positions or "rollover" and carry their bets into the following month. "We observed a significant build-up of short positions in the February series across the IT sector, with no meaningful recovery.