Photographs: Reuters SI Reporter in Mumbai
Markets continued their losing spree for the fourth straight seesion on Friday as investors turned cautious and booked profits at higher levels ahead of the US jobs data due later today. An encouraging US jobs data would help the US Fed to start winding down its monetary stimulus measures sooner than expected.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 157 points at 20,666 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 46 points at 6,141.
The rupee recovered slightly from the day's lows and was trading at Rs 62.63 compared with previous close of Rs 62.42 per dollar.
Asian share indices continued to remain weak as investors turned cautious ahead of the US jobs data later today.
A robust jobs data would help the US Fed start reducing its monetary stimulus measures sooner-than-expected. Japan's benchmark share index, the Nikkei, ended down 1.1% at 14,086.80.
Among other indices in the region, Shanghai COmposite ended down 1.1%, Hang Seng closed 0.6% lower while Straits Times ended down 0.8%.
Stocks in Europe witnessed profit booking on Friday on worries that better-than-expected US jobs data may help the US Fed to start winding down its monetary stimulus measures sooner than expcted.
Further, global rating agency Standard & Poor's to lower France's sovereign credit rating to AA from AA+ also weighed on investor sentiment. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.3-0.9% each.
The BSE Consumer Durables index was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 2% followed by Oil & Gas, Bankex, Auto and FMCG indices.
Financials were among the top Sensex losers with HDFC and HDFC Bank down 3.8% and 1.9%, respectively. SBI and ICICI Bank ended marginally lower.
In the oil and gas segment, Reliance Ind ended down 1.2% at Rs 876 and PSU exploration major ONGC ended over 2% down at Rs 277.
Other Sensex losers include TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto.
Capital goods shares were among the top Sensex gainers. L&T and BHEL ended up 0.7-1.8% each.
Tata Motors ended up 1.3% ahead of its second quarter earnings later today.
Among other shares, Tech Mahindra has rallied 6% to end at Rs 1,674, after reporting 4.7% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) growth in the dollar revenues to US$ 758 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2013.
Analyst expected revenue to drop around 3% for the quarter.
Aurobindo Pharma surged nearly 9% up to end at Rs 260 after reporting a healthy 80% year-on-year (yoy) growth in consolidated adjusted net profit at Rs 245 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2) on back of strong operational performance.
The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 136 crore in a year ago quarter.
Eicher Motors gained 2.9% on reporting a robust 63% year-on-year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 107 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q3) mainly due to one-time other operating income of around Rs 53 crore.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 66 crore during the same period of previous year.
Shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) dipped 4.2% to end at Rs 522 on BSE after net profit of the state-owned bank has been more than halved at Rs 505 crore during the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2) due to higher provisioning for bad loans.
Sun TV Network dipped 5.6% to end at Rs 413 after reporting a lower than expected 11.5% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 169 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2) due to slower revenue growth.
Thinksoft Global Services ended locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 194 on BSE after the company said that SQS Software Quality Systems AG has made an open offer at price of Rs 260 per share to public shareholders.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended marginally lower.
Market breadth was negative with 1,319 losers and 1,121 gainers on the BSE.
article