After opening in the green by over 225 points, the benchmark BSE Sensex in a volatile trade pared all of its early gains and fell by over 50 points after IT bellwether Infosys slashed guidance for the fiscal despite posting 9.8 per cent rise in profit for the second quarter. A total of 8,891.09 lakh shares changed hands in 65,42,496 trades and the market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 97,15,461 crore.
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The reaction was sharp as IT index plunged 2.02 percent while technology took a hit of almost 1.85 percent.
A weaker rupee, at 64.75, also cast its shadow on market sentiment.
The elections in Bihar are important for Modi’s efforts to control the upper house of India’s parliament, where opposition lawmakers have blocked key economic proposals such as a nationwide sales tax that would make the country a single market. The underlying CNX Nifty Index rose 0.7 percent to 8,189.70 on Friday.
The 50-issue Nifty also ended 46.10 points or 0.56 per cent down at 8,143.60 after shuttling between 8,244.50 and 8,128.20. The Japanese Nikkei was closed for a national holiday. The biggest losers included HDFC, TCS, ITC, Sun Pharma, Lupin and HDFC Bank. Analysts had expected the rate to climb to 4.3% from a record low of 3.66% in the previous month as favourable base effects diminish.
Among gainers, metal stocks soared for a second day after commodities group Glencore (GLEN.L) said it would cut its zinc output by a third, sparking a short-covering rally across the board.
Vedanta surged 7 per cent, while Hindalco Industries rose 5.98 per cent.
Today, the federal government is scheduled to discover the buyer price index info after market hours for the month of September 2015. However, both indices soon ceded their gains, as investors were spooked regarding the uncertainty over the second quarter results.
Meanwhile, the buying momentum continued for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in October as they net bought shares worth Rs 483.86 crore last Friday, provisional data showed.
As many as 16 of the 30 Sensex constituents ended lower, while overall declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,442 to 1,309 and 118 closed unchanged.
“This is an intermediary reaction and India will get back to the global trend which is impressively getting positive in expectation of stimulus from China and European Central Bank”, added Nair.
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The BSE Information Technology was the top sectoral loser, ending down 2.1%.
