Sensex opens 117 points down on Infosys’ results

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex slipped by nearly 117 points in the opening trade on Thursday, as IT stocks suffered setback after the industry bellwether Infosys Technologies posted third quarter earnings lower than the market expectations.

The 30—share barometer, which had gained 337.76 points in the previous session, declined by 116.95 points at 19,417.15 points.

Similarly, National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 32.15 points to 5,831.10 level.

Brokers said market turned bearish after Infosys Technologies declared lower—than—expected third quarter earnings, triggering massive selling of IT companies shares.

However, they said, firming trend in global markets restricted losses on the domestic bourses here.

Infosys Technologies today reported 14.17 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,780 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010.

The company share was trading at Rs. 3257.65, which was down by over three per cent since its closing price yesterday.

Meanwhile, in other markets in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was 0.56 per cent up while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose by 0.71 per cent in the morning trade today.

In the U.S, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.72 per cent higher in the Wednesday’s trade.