Shares of software bellwether Infosys tumbled over 7 per cent on the bourses in early trade today even after reporting better-than-expected results for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, dragging down the BSE benchmark Sensex.

The scrip, which carries the maximum weight on the Sensex, opened the day on a poor note and fell further by 7.64 per cent to an early low of Rs 2,610 on the BSE. Similarly, on the NSE, the stock shed 7.66 per cent to a low of Rs 2,609.85.

Infosys has 10.3 per cent weight in the 30-share Sensex pack, followed by RIL, which has 10.06 per cent weight.

Weak revenue guidance

Market experts blamed the weak revenue guidance by the company as the reason behind the steep fall in the stock.

“Infosys reported better-than-street-expected numbers in the third quarter, but the company disappointed with its dollar revenue guidance for FY’12. The market is always forward-looking. For Infosys, the dollar revenue guidance was weak, so investors adopted profit-booking,” Ashika Stock Broking Research Head-Equities, Mr Paras Bothra, said.

Infosys beat market forecasts with a 33.25 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,372 crore for the three-month period ended December 31, 2011.

The company had registered a net profit of Rs 1,780 crore for the December quarter of the previous fiscal (2010-11), Infosys said in a filing to the BSE.

The results were better than the company’s revenue guidance of Rs 8,826 crore to Rs 9,012 crore for the third quarter, which would have translated into year-on-year growth of 24.2 per cent to 26.8 per cent.

Selling pressure

Selling pressure was seen across the board in the IT index. The country’s biggest IT exporter TCS was trading lower by 3.62 per cent, while the third-largest software company Wipro lost 2.98 per cent.

Led by losses in these stocks, the BSE IT index was the top loser among the 13 sectoral indices and was quoting down by 4.83 per cent in the morning trade.

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