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The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex slipped by 65 points this week on profit-booking due to concerns over corporate earnings growth in view of high oil prices and inflation, along with disappointing fourth quarter results by IT major Infosys Technologies.
Infosys, which reported 2.13 per cent growth in Q4 consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards, was top loser in the 30-share pack, shedding 7.38 per cent from its previous close.
Rise in the headline inflation to 8.98 per cent in March from 8.31 per cent in the preceding month also negatively impacted the market sentiment, a broker said.
Further, a surge in crude oil prices over the past few months has sparked inflation and interest rate worries.
The stock market was closed on Tuesday and Thursday for public holidays.
The Sensex snapped the modest gains of last week and dropped by 64.63 points or 0.33 per cent to 19,386.82 this Friday. The S&P CNX Nifty also fell by 17.45 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 5,824.55 level.
Concerns over corporate earnings growth and macroeconomic worries arising from high crude oil prices also weighed on the domestic bourses.
India’s top real estate company, DLF, was the second biggest loser in Sensex pack. The stock declined by 5.55 per cent to Rs 245.05.
Steelmaker Jindal Steel & Power was the third biggest Sensex loser and declined by 3.84 per cent. Other losers were Wipro (3.41 per cent), Reliance Communications (1.78 per cent), Sterlite Industries (1.75 per cent), Tata Motors (1.59 per cent) and ONGC (0.87 per cent).
However, Hero Honda Motors jumped by 10.06 per cent to Rs 1,830.85 a share. Jaiprakash Associates also flared up by 4.87 per cent, while ITC moved up by 3.96 per cent to Rs 191.40 on expectation of good results for the quarter ended March 31.
Bharti Airtel rose 2.79 per cent to Rs 372.15 on reports that the company had reached 2 million customers on its third-generation or 3G mobile network.
Among the major sectoral indices, the BSE-IT fell sharply by 4.57 per cent followed by BSE-Tech (3.09 per cent) and the BSE-Realty (2.19 per cent). However, the BSE-FMCG rose 2.1 per cent and the BSE-CG gained 1.73 per cent.
Total turnover on the BSE and NSE fell to Rs 9,743.05 crore and Rs 37,966.50 crore, respectively, compared to the previous week’s level of Rs 17,812.38 crore and Rs 64,809.64 crore.
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