Sensex dips 138 points, Infosys slips on weak forecast

Stock market on Thursday turned weak despite positive news flow on industrial production and inflation fronts, as weakness in Infosys and other IT stocks dragged the barometer Sensex lower by 138.35 points. The experts attributed Thursday’s fall in share prices largely to a downward revenue forecast revision by IT giant Infosys and concerns about debt troubles in Europe.
In a volatile trading session, the BSE’s 30-share benchmark index, Sensex tumbled 138.35 points or 0.86 per cent to close at 16,037.51. The index earlier touched an intra-day low of 15,962.59 points, while stocks from IT and refinery sectors suffered huge losses.
The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share index Nifty also fell by 29.70 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 4,831.25.
Infosys, the nation’s second-biggest software maker and one of the top heavyweight stocks on the Sensex, saw its share price plunge by over 8 per cent.
Another Sensex heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) also lost 1.44 per cent to Rs 737.55. The RIL and Infosys stocks together carry nearly 20 per cent Sensex weightage.
Infosys this morning reported a robust set of third-quarter results, but cut its annual sales forecast in dollar terms because of weaker economic growth in its major markets, including Europe.
Weak cues from other Asian markets and concerns over Europe’s debt crisis also hit the market sentiment.
The markets also ignored the positive news flow on domestic front. The factory output grew by 5.9 per cent in November 2011, while inflationary pressures further eased, as per two different sets of the government data.
Analysts said that the growth in factory output and easing of inflation helped the market limit its losses.
The IT sector index suffered the most by losing 5.96 per cent to 5,484.31 as Infosys dropped 8.40 per cent to Rs 2,588.60, Tata Consultancy Services by 3.89 per cent to Rs 1,092.90 and Wipro by 2.60 per cent to Rs 391.
Bucking the broader weak trend, Bajaj Auto, State Bank of India, HDFC Ltd., HDFC Bank, Coal India, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industreis closed with gains.




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