Bad performances by big cos drive Nifty, Sensex down

The Nifty tumbled in late deals after bearish commentaries from market leaders such as Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Sun Pharma failed to offset a sterling set of numbers from Infosys.

The Nifty fell 71 points, or 0.8 percent, to 8,532 points with its Advance-Decline Ratio a negative 10:40. Sun Pharma, Vedanta and Lupin were the top losers, whereas Infosys, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech surged.

The mood was equally bearish on the Bombay Stock Exchange, where the Sensex slipped 237 points to end the day at 28,182 points. ONGC, Tata Steel and Cipla lost ground in sync with Sun Pharma, whose trading volumes surged to 243 crore rupees. Sun Pharma plunged 15 percent, its largest fall ever.

The mood was downbeat in the broader markets with 967 stocks gaining compared with 1,861 shares that lost ground. The Advance-Decline Ratio in the Futures and Options space was much worse: 20:141.

Infosys kick started the day with a stellar first quarter earnings that beat street expectations. That pulled up other IT stocks such as Wipro and HCL Tech.

But the negativity came from the pharma pack where Sun Pharma lead the losers list after announcing a profit and sales warning the previous day.

The broader market was earnings led: Can Fin Homes, Honeywell Automation, Sasken, CCL Products gave strong upmoves post their earnings.

(Image credits: globalgujaratnews)