Sensex closes 201 points lower, TCS falls

The benchmark Sensex on Friday plunged 202 points, dragged down by TCS, after robust earnings at the country's largest software services exporter failed to enthuse investors.

TCS contributed about 92 points to the drop in the Sensex, while ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank also pulled it lower. Wipro and HDFC were among the 18 Sensex stocks that fell.

Reliance Industries gave up gains of as much as 1.3 per cent to end 0.07 per cent lower ahead of its earnings announcement.

Nine of the 12 BSE sectoral indices declined, led by IT, realty and bank shares.

The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex hovered in negative terrain for most of the day before closing down 201.56 points, or 0.95 per cent, at 21,063.62.

It was the second day of losses for the Sensex. Over the past five days, however, the index added 305 points, the biggest gain in four weeks.

The 50-share CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange dipped by 57.25 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 6,261.65.

Tata Consultancy Services late on Thursday declared a 50.3 per cent jump in December quarter net profit. The company does not expect the domestic market to turn around before the September 2014 quarter because of the general elections.

"TCS was also down by over 5 per cent post its Q3 results as despite good results, its margins were lower quarter on quarter basis," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President at Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. "Telecom stocks continued the selling pressure from last trading day and traded weak."

"Indian markets ended the day on a weak note owing to decline in IT and banking majors led by TCS, HDFC and ICICI Bank. Markets also tracked the weak Asian markets, where apart from Hang Seng and Straits Times, other indices closed lower," said Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research at Veracity Broking Services.

Asian stocks showed a mixed trend as US bank earnings disappointed and investors waited for Chinese economic data due next week.

European stocks were higher in early trade as investors awaited reports on US housing starts and industrial output.

In the domestic market, the major Sensex losers were TCS, which dropped 5.77 per cent, Wipro 3.15 per cent, HDFC 2.58 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.44 per cent and Axis Bank 2.05 per cent.

Bajaj Auto rose 1.37 per cent, followed by BHEL 1.3 per cent, Cipla 1.27 per cent and Hindustan Unilever 1.27 per cent.

Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, IT fell 2.55 per cent, followed by Realty 2.4 per cent, Teck 2.28 per cent , Bankex 1.57 per cent and Consumer Durables 1.16 per cent.

The market breadth remained negative as 1,780 stocks fell, 855 gained and 147 ruled steady. Total turnover rose to Rs 3,133.56 crore from Rs 2,003.89 crore Thursday.