Oct 11 Reuters India39;s Tata Consultancy Services39; shares slumped as much as 2.7 on Friday after its secondquarter profit missed Street estimates, although rivals advanced on expectations that demand in their key banking segment was recovering.

The stock, which was choppy in early trade, was last down 2.4 at 4,125.15 rupees.

On Thursday, the country39;s No.1 IT firm posted a net profit of 119.09 billion rupees 1.42 billion, missing analyst estimates, as revenue in its North American market, which accounts for nearly half of overall sales, fell for a fourth straight quarter.

TCS39; revenue declined in North America due to a client in the lifesciences and healthcare vertical reducing the scope of a project, it said, without elaborating.

The results are not a broadbased gauge for demand as the weakness was clientspecific, said Abhishek Kumar, analyst at JM Financial.

The market is optimistic about IT companies in light of further U.S. rate cuts, he said.

Indian IT firms get a large chunk of their revenue from the United States.

Still, the company39;s banking, financial services and insurance BFSI segment, its largest vertical, showed signs of recovery.

Its BFSI division grew in North America, but saw some softness in the UK and European markets.

TCS39; secondquarter results suggest that the road to recovery in developed markets is likely to be volatile. However, we keep the faith given TCS39; continued hiring and improvement in outlook for BFSI, Jefferies said….