Sensex edges lower, Infosys gains ahead of Q3

NDTV Profit Desk

09 Jan 2014, 04:55 PM IST

The BSE Sensex fell slightly on Thursday, recording its sixth decline in seven sessions so far this year, as blue-chips such as Larsen & Toubro fell on anxiety ahead of the quarterly earnings season and inflation data.

Caution was seen ahead of the start of the corporate earnings reporting season, with Infosys announcing its results on Friday.

India is also due to post wholesale and consumer price data on Tuesday, which will help determine whether the Reserve Bank of India will resume raising interest rates after tightening monetary policy by a total of 50 basis points over September and October.

However, India's inflation rate will probably ease in December to 7.00 per cent from the 14-month high of 7.52 per cent in November helped by waning food prices, a Reuters poll of 22 economists showed.

Falls also tracked lower global shares ahead of policy meetings at the European Central Bank and Bank of England on Thursday and the US jobs report due on Friday.

"We remain bullish on Indian shares. December quarter would mark the second straight quarter of recovery in earnings for India Inc," said Abhay Laijawala, managing director and head of research at Deutsche Equities India Pvt. Ltd.

The Sensex fell 0.08 per cent, or 16.01 points, to end at 20,713.37, marking a total fall of 2.2 per cent for 2014.

The Nifty lost 0.1 per cent, or 6.25 points, to end at 6,168.35.

Among blue-chips, Larsen & Toubro fell 2.7 per cent, while Housing Development Finance Corporation ended 0.3 per cent lower.

Caution ahead of key inflation data next week also hit bank stocks. Axis Bank fell 2.2 per cent while State Bank of India lost 1.1 per cent.

Among other rate-sensitive stocks, Mahindra and Mahindra fell 1.6 per cent while Maruti Suzuki India lost 1.4 per cent.

Jubilant Foodworks, which operates the Domino's Pizza franchise in India, fell 3 per cent after the central bank on Wednesday said aggregate net purchases of equity shares in the company by foreign institutional investors had reached the prescribed limit.

Biocon fell 2.4 per cent after brokerage CLSA downgraded the stock to 'sell' from 'outperform' citing a run-up in valuations.

HCL Infosystems fell 4 percent, Aban Offshore ended 3.6 per cent lower and Opto Circuits (India) lost 2.2 per cent after index compiler FTSE removed them from its Global Equity Index series.

However, software stocks rose a day ahead of bellwether Infosys' October-December earnings.

Infosys gained 0.7 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services rose 0.4 per cent while HCL Technologies surged 3.2 per cent.

Gold-based lenders also surged to their maximum daily limit after the RBI on Wednesday relaxed gold lending rules.

Muthoot Finance surged 20 per cent, while Manappuram Finance jumped 19.8 per cent.