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For a third straight week, the US stocks declined as Hewlett-Packard cut its sales forecast.
The S&P 500 lost 0.3 per cent to 1,333.27 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 per cent. The tech-laden Nasdaq slipped 0.9 per cent.
Continuous selling by foreign institutional investors weakened the domestic market. The BSE Sensex fell 1.11 per cent and the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty by 1.05 per cent.
Recently, Nasdaq-listed iGATE has completed its open offer to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in Patni Computer Systems. iGATE now has 81.29 per cent stake in the Mumbai-based IT outsourcing company
The $1.24-billion transaction, which was backed by buyout giant Apax Partners, is one of the largest inorganic deals in India this year. Following the acquisition, the iGate Chief Executive, Mr Phaneesh Murthy, would be the chief executive officer and Managing Director of the combined entity.
Infosys Technologies also closed weak at $62.91 ($63.54), a fall of one per cent over the previous week close. However, Wipro and Satyam Computer finished on a better note at $13.98 ($13.95) and $3.38 ($3.27) respectively. Satyam Computer is scheduled to declare its quarterly performance on May 23.
State Bank of India's weak financial performance appeared to have affected private banking majors.
The ICICI Bank ADR fell 2.8 per cent and HDFC Bank slipped 0.91 per cent at $45.75 ($17.02) and $157.25 ($158.68) respectively. The steep hike in petro products also affected the banking sector as market participants fear that this could fuel inflation rate resulting in another round of interest rate hike.
The ADR of Dr Reddy's — which posted a decline of 34 per cent in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2010-11, at Rs 165.87 crore compared with Rs 253.16 crore posted in the same period of the previous fiscal — crashed 5.2 per cent at $35.94 ($37.82). However, the company's income increased by 7.11 per cent to Rs 1,375.77 crore (Rs 1,284.43 crore).
MTNL slipped marginally to $2.1 ($2.11) though the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R.K. Upadhyay, said his company was working with MTNL to streamline their businesses so that both organisations can benefit.
The other telecom major, Tata Communications, crashed 6.73 per cent at $10.85 ($11.58). The ongoing 2G probe and a couple of high-profit arrests seemed to have affected the sentiment for Tata Communications.
Tata Motors fell 4.27 per cent at $25.5 ($26.59) despite the company saying that its global vehicle sales rose 12 per cent in April.
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