Sensex ends below 28,700; defensive shares drag

Benchmark indices ended lower for the second straight session with IT and healthcare stocks contributing the most to the decline on the back of lacklustre US economic data for the month of March. Further, expectations of sluggish revenue growth during the fourth quarter from TCS also weighed on sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex shed 134 points to close at 28,666 and the 50-share Nifty dropped 44 points to end at 8,707.

RUPEE

The rupee slipped by 2 paise at 62.38 against the US dollar in the late noon trade following bouts of demand for dollar from importers amid volatile equities.

KEY STOCKS

On the sectoral front, BSE Healthcare, Realty, IT, Capital Goods ended down up to 2%. However, BSE Oil & Gas index emerged as the only gainer and was up nearly 1%.

ONGC emerged as the top gainer and surged over 3%. According to media reports, government has decided to exempt ONGC and Oil India from sharing subsidy in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. GAIL was up 0.5%.

RIL gained 0.7% as analysts expect the company to post a record fourth quarter net profit as benefitting from refining margins, which will be partially offset by lower petrochemical margins. RIL will announce its January-March 2015 results on Friday.

Auto stocks which gained in the morning deals after public sector oil marketing companies announced a reduction in retail selling price of petrol and diesel ended the session in the negative territory on account of profit booking. Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors declined up to 4%.

Meanwhile, Hero Motocorp emerged as the top loser after US-based Erik Buell Racing (EBR), in which Hero MotoCorp holds 49% stake, announced a closure of operations. The stock ended 3.8% lower.

Export oriented stocks such as healthcare and IT declined on the back of lacklustre US economic data for the month of March.

Lupin lost over 2.5% after its rival Aurobindo Pharma got a nod from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to make and sell its generic version of oral suspension of antibiotic Cefixime.

Among its peers, Cipla, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs lost between 2-3%.

The IT pack faced further selling pressure as analysts expect TCS to post a mute quarterly result. The result will be announced post the market hours today. Infosys, Wipro, TCS ended lower up to 2%.

IndusInd Bank posted a 25% rise in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015. The bank posted profit after tax of Rs 495.27 crore for Q4 FY15 compared to Rs 396.05 crore in Q4 of FY14. The stock ended the session with marginal losses.

Tata Steel dropped nearly 0.5% after the company said that its crude steel production fell 1.45% to 2.44 million tonnes in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014. Its peer Sesa Sterlite is trading lower by 3%.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL lost up to 1.7% on Nomura report stating that the possibility that the El Nino condition is developing this year and this could possibly push food inflation temporarily higher.

After gaining in the past sessions, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices, down 0.7% and 0.9% each succumbed to profit booking at higher levels. Market breadth on the BSE is weak with 1,711 declines against 1,089 advances.

Shares of Gammon India surged 12% on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the infrastructure company annnounced that it has secured two new projects worth Rs 840.45 crore.

Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) – Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL and BPCL ended lower up to 2.5% on the BSE after the companies announced a reduction in retail selling price of petrol and diesel after trading hours yesterday, 15 April 2015.