Mumbai, Dec. 27 :    Mumbai, Dec. 27:  Shares of the software services giant Wipro Ltd were today battered on rumours that it is pruning workforce by laying off around 300 employees, due to the challenging business outlook. The stock, which was the among the highest traded shares, was one of the top five losers of the day, even though company officials denied market speculations of layoffs to combat the present downturn. Analysts pointed out that FIIs were heavy sellers at the counter and the unloading was due to concerns pertaining to Lucent (one of Wipro's prominent clients) and downsizing rumours. Market circles were agog with rumours that the Azim Premji-owned company has set an internal target of curtailing its workforce by 800 engineers over one year and around 300 jobs will be cut by the end of this month as a part of this process. Company officials however vehemently denied that any such internal target has been set or that Wipro plans to lay off staff now. The panic saw the Wipro scrip, which opened at Rs 1,644.45, fall from the day's high of Rs 1,673.90 on a massive selling deluge to a low of Rs 1,425. The scrip finally closed at Rs 1,455.15, a sharp drop of Rs 201.55 or 12.17 per cent over the previous finish. Around 18.93 lakh shares changed hands, yielding a turnover of Rs 288.57 crore. The domestic software services industry, it may be recalled has been facing tough times particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US that ultimately led to a pruning of growth rates for the industry. Industry analysts are now looking forward to Wipro's third quarter report-card, which is expected shortly. In the second half of the current year, the company had managed to scrape ahead of expectations with a 40 per cent growth in net profits.