Sensex ends 300 points lower; DLF, JP Asso, TCS down

Indian markets ended sharply lower for second consecutive session as weak global peers and concerns of possible rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India spooked sentiments.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 19095.02, down 291.80 points or 1.51 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 19649.22 and low of 19071.47 intraday.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 5731.60, down 92.95 points or 1.60 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5897.90 and low of 5722.25 in today's trade.

BSE Midcap Index fell 1.30 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.73 per cent lower.

All the sectoral indices ended lower. BSE Realty Index fell 3.48 per cent, BSE IT Index was down 2.73 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index was declined 2.15 per cent.

DLF (-5.16%), Jaiprakash Associates (-3.33%), TCS (-3.07%), Infosys Technologies (-2.89%) and L&T (-2.88%) were the major Sensex losers.

Hero Honda (2.33%), HUL (2.10%), Bajaj Auto (0.87%),ONGC (0.80%) and Maruti Suzuki (0.44%) were the top gainers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 1713 declines against 1177 advances.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

Indian stocks slip as tech worries weigh

Indian stocks lost early gains to trade lower on Monday, with the information technology sector remaining under pressure after results and guidance from Infosys Technologies Ltd. disappointed investors last week.

The Sensex XX:SENSEX -1.51% fell 168.47 points, or 0.9%, to 19,218.35, led by declines of more than 2% for shares of Infosys IN:500209 -2.89% ; Cipla Ltd. IN:500087 -1.46% ; Tata Consultancy Services IN:532540 -3.07% ; and DLF Ltd. IN:532868 -5.16%

Shares of Hero Honda Motors Ltd.IN:500182 +2.33% bucked the trend, rising 3% after the auto maker last week announced an interim dividend to 70 rupees per share.

The S&P/CNX Nifty XX:NIFTY -1.64% fell 0.9% to 5,769.70.

The drop in Infosys shares follows a 9.6% slide on Friday after the firm said profit for its quarter ended March 31 rose by a smaller-than-expected 13.6% from the year-earlier period as costs outpaced growth in revenue.

Net profit rose to 18.18 billion rupees ($408 million) from 16.00 billion rupees in the year earlier period. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires expected the company’s profit to rise to 18.81 billion rupees.

For the current financial year that started April 1, Infosys said it expects an 8% to 10% growth in earnings per share in U.S. dollar terms, to a range between $2.83 and $2.88. Current financial year revenue is expected to climb 18% to 20% to $7.13 billion to $7.25 billion.

Deutsche Bank, however, said that the quarterly miss was a “one-time phenomenon” and that the software-maker’s management was “unduly conservative” in its guidance.

Among the offsets expected by Deutsche Bank is that Infosys should continue to benefit from increased hiring at lower wages, which should bring down its overall wage inflation and cost base.

Investors worried about the information technology’s prospect will next turn to results from Tata Consultancy Services IN:532540 -3.07% due on Thursday.

The banking sector, also a key component for the market’s overall earnings growth, fell 1% , with investors awaiting quarterly results earnings from HDFC Bank Ltd.IN:500180 -1.77% later Monday.

Marketwatch

Weekly Markets: Sensex drops on Infy nos, inflation data

Markets paused the last three week's rally as traders took to booking profits. Infosys' dissapointing earnings estimate did nothing to help the sentiments which were down with crude oil prices and inflation at high levels.

The holiday shortened week saw the Sensex drop 65 points to 19,386. The index opened the week at 19,383 and touched a high of 19,737 on Wednesday - Tuesday being a holiday on account of Ram Navami. Thursday market stayed shut for Ambedkar Jayanti. On the last trading day of the week index plunged after IT Major Infosys came out with its quarterly numbers.

Industrial production rose 3.6% in February 2011. However, market was expecting IIP growth to be at 4.8%. Manufacturing output rose an annual 3.5% in February 2011. January's industrial output annual growth rate was revised upwards to 3.9% from 3.7%.

The wholesale price index rose 8.9% in March 2011, higher than 8.3% rise in February 2011 and also ahead of market expectations.

Crude oil continued to hover around higher levels. High oil [prices have raised concerns of a widening current account deficit and higher oil subsidy bill.

Infosys reported marginal rise of 2% in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,818 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2011 on sequential basis. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1,780 crore in the December quarter. For the quarter ending June 30, 2011 the company expects revenue to be in the range of Rs 7,311 crore and Rs 7,382 crore; growth of 18.0% to 19.1% y-o-y.

"The results were tad below expectations. At Rs 3306, if Infosys had delivered 25-30% topline and 15-20% bottomline growth, we could have seen more upside on the stock. The scrip is down 7% due to profit booking," said Gaurang Shah, AVP, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

Infosys was the biggest loser among Sensex stocks, plunging 7.3% to Rs 2,989. Other IT stocks dropped. Wipro tumbled 3.5% to Rs 450. TCS ended flat at Rs 1,190. Other losers included Core Projects, Oracle Financial Services and Tech Mahindra.

IT index, as a whole, slipped 4.5% to 6,259. BSE realty and metal indices dripped 1-2% each.

Meanwhile, FMCG index surged 2% to 3,713. Bankex gained 0.6% in the week to end at 13,383.

Among banking stocks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ended on a flat note at Rs 1,101 and Rs 2,360, respectively. However, Federal Bank rallied 5% to Rs 445. Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank jumped 3% each. Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of Baroda were up 2-3% each.

www.business-standard.com

Mohandas Pai resigns from Infosys Technologies

In what comes as a major setback to Infosys Technologies, board member TV Mohandas Pai has resigned, the company said in its press release while announcing the fourth quarter earnings. Pai has requested the board to relieve him after the company's AGM on June 11.

"We all know that he is taking this painful decision, since he has much bigger projects in the horizon—nation building," NR Narayana Murthy chairman and chief mentor of the company said in the release.

"Mohan has been an early adopter and a keen anchor builder of Infosys. It is difficult to imagine Infosys without Mohan’s passion, commitment, joie-de-vivre and intellect," Murthy said.

Mohan joined Infosys in 1994 and has served as a member of the board since May 2000. He was the chief financial officer from 1994 to 2006. In 2006, he voluntarily demitted the office of CFO to lead efforts in the areas of human resources and education and research.

After Nanadan Nikelani's resignation, this is the second biggest exit of a senior member from the company. Add to this K Dinesh, one of the founder members and a member of the board, who has chosen to retire. He was head of quality, information systems and the communication design group.

India's second largest IT services exporter Infosys reported a 2.15% growth in its fourth quarter net profit at Rs 1,818 crore versus Rs 1,779.8 crore in Q4FY10. Its standalone revenues came in at Rs 6,668 crore. A CNBC-TV18 poll saw net profit at Rs 1856 crore and revenue at Rs 7447 crore.

The board of directors will meet on April 30, 2011 to finalise on the new chairman post Murthy's retirement in August 2011.

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