Sensex falls 66 pts on Q1 results

Carrying forward its losses since Wednesday, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell over 66 points to 18,436.19 in volatile trading on Thursday, as blue-chips led by RIL fell on disappointing quarter earnings posted by many corporates amid weak global cues.

The Bombay Stock Exchange index, Sensex, which had lost 152 points in the previous session, lost another 66.19 points after trading in the range of 18,415.36-18,566.99 intra-day.

Broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 25.45 points to 5,541.60, after moving between 5,578.90 and 5,532.70.

Trading sentiment turned bearish after bio-tech major Biocon and energy solutions provider Exide Industries failed to enthuse markets, as their first quarter earnings missed markets estimates and rising borrowing costs damped demand.

Biocon plunged 1.94 per cent and Exide Industries by 8.77 per cent.

The market remained under pressure ahead of the Reserve Bank of India policy meet on Tuesday as investors feared another hike in interest rate to tame a stubborn inflation.

Overall inflation rose to 9.44 per cent in June from 9.06 per cent in May.

Weakening trend in Asia and lower opening in Europe further influenced the sentiment. Sensex leader Reliance Industries dropped by 1.66 per cent while Infosys gained 0.57 per cent.

Barring information technologies and teck, all other 11 sectoral indices closed in red. Consumer durable index fell the most at 2.20 per cent, realty index fell 1.43 per cent, bank index lost 0.98 per cent.