Infosys Technologies was the biggest loser among BSE Sensex stocks today on selling pressure following rumours that the software bellwether's top client has cut billing rates, and  that its ADR issue has also been postponed.

By 14:31 IST, the scrip of India's second largest software exporter lost 5.94% to Rs 2,815.25, off its high of Rs 3,047 earlier in the session. It registered a  volume of 4.77 lakh shares.

The slide on the Infosys Technologies (ITL) counter was purely due to rumours  that the company's top client has cut down billing rates, although the extent of the cut and the identity of the client were not known. There were also rumours that the company has  deferred its American Depository Receipt (ADR) issue.

As per market buzz, Morgan Stanley  was said to have offloaded the stock on behalf of its client, Capital International.

In the last four sessions, between 12 and 16 May 2003, the ITL scrip had risen by 7.32% to Rs 2,993.15 from Rs 2,788.85.  Earlier, between 7 April and 12 May 2003, it had lost 36.6% from Rs 4,398.90 following the muted guidance from the company for the year ending 31 March 2004.

The ITL guidance along with its Q4 and FY 2002-03 results, announced on 10 April 2003, had set off a selling spree in tech stocks. ITL forecast a 11-13% growth in net earnings and a 21-23% rise in revenues on the back of a 27-30% increase in volumes and a 4-6% fall in billing rates for FY 2003-04.

ITL's muted guidance also dragged down the BSE IT sector Index by 24% to 1,086.40 on 16 May 2003, from 1,425.67 on 7 April 2003.

For the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003, ITL registered a 23% rise in net profit to Rs 259 crore (Rs 210.3 crore) on net sales of Rs 1,020 crore (Rs 680.1 crore). This quarterly net profit growth was on the lower side of projections by capitalmarket.com poll of analysts of  a 23-33.6% rise in net profit to Rs 259-281 crore and sales  between Rs 980 crore and Rs 1,043 crore, a growth of 44-53.3%.