Sensex declines as TCS falls after its results

The index tumbles 223 points to 28442, extending this week's loss to 1.5%

Stocks declined, with the benchmark index halting two weeks of gains, after quarterly sales at the nation's biggest software exporter missed estimates.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 0.8 per cent to 28,442.10 at the close in Mumbai, extending this week's loss to 1.5 per cent. TCS, India's biggest company by market value, said its fiscal fourth- quarter profit dropped after a one-time bonus to employees, while sales rose less than forecast. Sensex profits in the three months to March 31 will probably fall for a second straight quarter, analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.

"The earnings aren't going anywhere and there are no drivers for the markets," Andrew Holland, chief executive officer of Ambit Investment Advisors, said in an interview to Bloomberg TV India. "We are in a consolidation phase and the results season is going to be pretty bad."

Macquarie Capital Securities India, the most accurate index forecaster for the past two years in Bloomberg surveys, cut its earnings per share forecast for the 30 Sensex companies by 2.2 per cent for the year through March 2016.