The gloom surrounding infotech (IT) stocks alleviated slightly after the US rate cut last week. But it remains to be seen how long this effect will last.

After witnessing sustained selling for most of last week, IT stocks finally got a reprieve in the form of a rate cut by Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of US Federal Reserve. This had the desired effect on the NASDAQ¦as also on the local bourses. Local IT stocks were languishing until a few days ago on fears of a slowdown in the domestic industry, sparked by a slowdown in the US IT industry. However, the rate cut rejuvenated both US and domestic IT stocks.

Open-ended, IT Schemes	NAV (Rs)	Last week	Last month	Last year	Since inception
Chola Freedom Tech (Cum)	12.2	7.6%	-9.0%	-29.3%	6.4%
Alliance New Millenn (Gr)	7.3	7.5%	-9.0%	0.0%	-52.3%
Sun F&C Emerg Tech (Gr)	5.8	7.5%	-8.9%	0.0%	-32.7%
K P Infotech (Gr)	22.7	6.8%	-10.2%	-41.4%	93.1%
Pru ICICI Tech. (Gr)	4.9	6.8%	-9.5%	0.0%	-50.6%
DSP ML Tech.com (Gr)	6.6	6.5%	-7.7%	0.0%	-23.0%
Magnum Sector Funds-IT	11.8	6.3%	-11.6%	-51.5%	53.7%
UTI Sector- Software	14.0	6.0%	-7.8%	-30.9%	20.8%
IL&FS eCOM Fund (Gr)	5.0	6.0%	-9.2%	0.0%	-63.7%
Tata IT Sector Fund	8.5	5.7%	-11.7%	-46.5%	12.7%
K P Internet Opport.(Gr)	6.5	5.7%	-4.0%	0.0%	-32.5%
K Tech	5.8	5.1%	-7.8%	0.0%	-26.5%
Birla IT Fund (Gr)	13.1	3.9%	-11.7%	-51.2%	5.9%

However, its anyone guess how long this rally (???) will last. Of late, tech rallies have invariably been very short and IT stocks have risen in spurts and have failed to latch on to any momentum. There is little reason to believe that it will be any different this time.

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