The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts amid weak global cues. The Sensex fell as much as 247 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 17,100. Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Wipro, HDFC, Infosys and ICICI Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.
As of 9:42 am, the Sensex was down 239 points at 57,386 and Nifty 50 index declined 65 points to 17,058.
Most of the Asian markets were trading lower with Japan's Nikkei down 0.41 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.02 per cent, Taiwan Weighted fell 0.24 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.93 per cent
A wobbly day of trading on Wall Street ended with a modest pullback for stocks Wednesday as investors weighed a report showed that inflation remains very hot, likely paving the way for more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
A late-afternoon drop erased tentative gains that the major stock indexes had been clinging to for much of the day. The S&P 500 ended 0.3 per cent lower, its sixth consecutive loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite each slipped 0.1 per cent.
Treasury yields, which have driven much of Wall Street’s recent trading, ended lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects mortgage rates, fell to 3.90 per cent from 3.95 per cent late Tuesday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury slipped to 4.28 per cent from 4.30 per cent.
Back home, eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 1 per cent decline. Nifty Financial Services, PSU Bank, Realty and Consumer Durables indices also fell over 0.5 per cent each.
On the other hand, auto, metal, pharma and healthcare shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading largely on a flat note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.2 per cent.
Wipro was top Nifty loser, the stock dropped over 5 per cent to Rs 384 after its net profit fell 10 per cent to Rs 2,649 crore on lower earnings from clients in non-US markets.
Revenues rose to Rs 22,539.7 crore in the quarter under review, from Rs 19,667.4 crore a year-ago.
Wipro said earnings from its clients in non-US markets fell in the second quarter.
Earnings from Europe dropped to Rs 787.5 crore, from Rs 918.6 crore a year back.
ONGC, TCS, SBI Life, UltraTech Cements, Tata Consumer Products, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra and UPL were also among the losers.
On the flipside, HCL Technologies was top Nifty gainer, the stock advanced 2.6 per cent to Rs 976 after it posted a 7 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit for September quarter at Rs 3,489 crore, topping street expectations, and raised the full year revenue guidance citing strong demand and deal pipeline despite macro concerns.
Amid widespread fears of global recession, HCL Tech said it clinched a "stellar quarter on all fronts", delivering strong performance in top line. The IT services firm exuded confidence about its near term and the medium term growth, as it upped revenue guidance to 13.5-14.5 per cent for the full year, against the 12-14 per cent growth band projected earlier.
Hindalco, Eicher Motors, Cipla, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Coal India and Dr Reddy's Labs were also among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,344 shares were advancing while 1,504 were declining on the BSE.
