Infy results fail to boost markets

Markets slip despite good results reported by IT bellwether Infosys.

The company has registered 0.9 per cent decline in its net profit to Rs 1,600 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010 as compared to corresponding previous quarter.

On a sequential quarter on quarter basis, the net profit has moved up by 2.6 per cent while the topline grew by 3.5 per cent.

The markets today opened in the green and within few minutes of trading soon slipped into the negative. Pressure was witnessed in the auto and bankex stocks. which made the index slip to a low of 17,736.

Recovery was mainly led by good amount of buying in the IT stocks inspite of Infosys lowering EPS guidance in rupee terms for next financial year.

Infosys initially was moving in the red but later erased its losses and ended 3.5% higher.  Both Infosys and TCS both contributed around 80 points to the Sensex.

Assurance given by Montek Singh Alluwalia that food inflation to come down in 2-3 months also led to the partial recovery. The Sensex finally ended  at 17,821, down 31 points. The NSE Nifty shut shop at 5,323, down 16 points.

The market breadth was negative, out of 2,964 shares traded, 1,523 declined and 1,361 advanced so far on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, IT index advanced 3% to 5,504.

While on the other hand auto, bankex and oil & gas indices exhibited weakness. Hero Honda slipped 5% to Rs 1,976 and ESCORTS was down 3%, respectively on the auto index.

The BSE midcap and the smallcap indices ended flat. Procter & Gamble and India Cements slipped 4% each on the midcap index.

INDEX LOSERS. . .

Hero Honda slipped 5% to Rs 1,976. Reliance Communications, HDFC, Sterlite Industries and ICICI Bank were down 2.5% each at Rs 172, Rs 2,747, Rs 847 and Rs 942, respectively.

The other major losers were Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Tata Motors and ONGC, down 1-2% each.

. . .AND THE GAINERS

Infosys advanced 3.5% to Rs 2,782. TCS and Wipro gaibed 2.5% each at Rs 819 and Rs 719, respectively.