L&T falls on brokerage downgrades

Citigroup, Barclays downgrade company on concerns over order cancellations and weak investment cycle

Larsen & Toubro Ltd shares are down 1.7% after Citigroup and Barclays downgraded the engineering conglomerate on concerns over order cancellations and weak investment cycle.

Citi downgraded L&T to 'neutral' from 'buy' and cut its target price to Rs 1,732 from Rs 1,855, citing cancellations in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, slow-moving orders, as well as weaker domestic economic growth.

Barclays downgraded L&T to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' and cut target price to Rs 1,750 from Rs 1,851.

The bank says it expects L&T to meet its fiscal 2013 guidance but cautions that weakness in the investment cycle in fiscal 2014 will post a risk to order estimates.