Sensex, Nifty tanks over 0.12%; Infosys shares down 3% post Q4 result

Indian markets opens negative in early trade post CPI, IIP numbers and also sentiments turned sour after when Infosys announced its Q4 result.

At 9.58 am, Sensex was trading at 29,595.33 sinking over 48 points or 0.16%, while Nifty tumbled over 22 points or 0.25% trading at 9,180.70.

Analysts at HDFC Securities said, “Indian equities markets may open slightly lower tracking weakness in most of the Asian markets and weak economic data reported post market on Wednesday. The bearish trend in the SGX Nifty, which was trading down by 28.5 point to 9,203.5, indicated that Nifty may open lower."

They added, “Pharma is expected to trade in positive zone whereas Automobiles, IT and NBFC sectors are expected to trade in negative zone. Crucial support for Nifty is at 9170 level, while strong immediate resistance is at 9250.”

Shares of Infosys took the lead among top losers category trading at Rs 946.70 a piece down over 21 points or 2.26%.

The company on Thursday reported consolidated net profit of Rs 3,603 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, registering sequential growth of 0.2% from Rs 3,597 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

HDFC Securities said, "We have the results from Infosys in the morning. The markets have no great hopes from this tech bellwether. The industry is yearning for double digit growth and not getting it. To make matters worse, dollar is depreciating against the rupee. And on top of that the management has goofed up in managing the investor and  promoter expectations of a buyback. Unless Mr Sikka and his team pull out a real  rabbit in the form of a higher guidance  or fall in line with the investor expectations of returning some cash, Investors are likely to move on to more investor friendly  companies."

Among other losers on BSE were – Tata Consultancy Services at Rs 2,347 a piece (1.97%), Tata Steel at Rs 470.75 a piece (1.51%), Adani Ports at Rs 323.60 a piece (1.21%), Wipro at Rs 495.30 a piece (1.14%) and Larsen & Toubro at Rs 1,685.45 a piece (0.81%).

Top gainers on BSE involved Gail India at Rs 382.35 a piece (1.12%), Reliance Industries at Rs 1,366.95 a piece (1.08%), I CICI Bank at Rs 283.55 a piece (1.05%), Axis Bank at Rs 510.10 a piece (0.95%) and Power Grid at Rs 198.95 a piece (0.71%).

Meanwhile, INR appreciated against USD. The rupee was trading at 64.315 down 0.212 paisa or 0.33%.

As per data published by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation on Wednesday,Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for the month of March 2017 stood at 3.81% against 3.65% in February 2017 and 3.17% in January 2017.

While, Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of February 2017 falls by 1.2% on year-on-year basis, as against the estimate of 1.3%.

Global Indices:

Geo-political tensions and US earning season have continued to hamper the performance of Asian markets.

Asian markets was mostly trading negative on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbling over 212 points or 1.14% trading at 18,340.44.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading at 24,257.27 below 56 points or 0.23%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index was trading flat at 3,276.11.