The Sensex on Thursday washed out its 100-point gain on lower-than-expected drop in June industrial production data and closed 40 points lower at 17,560.87 amid selling in Bharti Airtel, SBI, HDFC and RIL.
The BSE benchmark index, which had gained 102 points after opening firm in the morning, started paring gains on reports that industrial output declined in June by 1.8 per cent, the third fall in four months. The Sensex settled at 17,560.87, lower by 39.69 points against previous day’s close.
The 30-share Sensex was dragged down by losses in Bharti Airtel which shed 6.40 per cent today after losing 6.60 per cent yesterday on quarterly profit decline.
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Bluechips SBI and HDFC losing in the 3.6-4.3 per cent range also soured the marked mood further. RIL, Wipro and Tata Motors ended around one per cent lower.
However, Sensex’s losses would have been bigger if it was not for smart 2-3 per cent gains in Sterlite, M&M, Tata Power, HUL and Coal India counters.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 15.05 points, or 0.28 per cent to 5,322.95. It shuttled between 5,368.20 and 5,312.10 range during the day.
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“Industrial production declined 1.8 per cent in June...considerably weaker than market expectations of a gain of 0.4 per cent,” said Barclays.
Broadly, stocks of refinery, banking, and consumer durables sectors ended lower while shares in FMCG, metal and auto gained.
Brokers said investors remained concerned about lower- than-expected earnings. Shares of pharma major Ranbaxy dropped 2.63 per cent after its consolidated net loss for April-June quarter came at Rs 580 crore.
“The global markets remained sluggish with most of the European markets trading flat,” said Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth & Securities.