Sensex falls on profit-taking ICICI, ONGC drop

The Sensex fell nearly one per cent on Thursday, with ICICI Bank and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro leading the drop, as investors took profits after a two-month rally.

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp shed 1.7 per cent after a government share sale in the country’s largest oil producer received bids for only about two-thirds the shares on offer, television channels said.

Exchange data was not clear on the final amount of bids, and bankers and officials at the Department of Disinvestment were not available.

The stock closed at Rs 288.20, below the floor price of Rs 290. The government had aimed to raise at least $2.5 billion through the sale of a 5 per cent stake.

Tata Communications, which owns undersea cable assets and provides telecoms and Internet services to companies across countries, rose 1.1 per cent after the company said it was evaluating a potential bid for Britain’s Cable & Wireless Worldwide Plc.

The main 30-share BSE index closed down 0.95 per cent, or 168.71 points, at 17,583.97, with 24 of its components in the red.

ICICI Bank shed 2.5 per cent and bigger rival State Bank of India dropped 1.3 per cent, as investors took profits.

The banking sector index has risen nearly 31 per cent since the end of 2011, about double the gain in the BSE index over the same period, on expectation interest rates would be cut to help slowing growth.

“We are advising investors not to over indulge in equities,” said Samir Gilani, head of equities at Mape Securities. “Growth is going down and there are no indication when the monetary easing will actually come in.”

The country’s economy grew at the slowest pace in almost three years in the December quarter, as high interest rates and rising input costs hurt investment and manufacturing.

Larsen & Toubro dropped 2.3 per cent, falling for a second day, after the company missed out on a Rs 16,000 crore bulk tender by utility NTPC.

The company’s bid, along with its joint venture partner Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was the third lowest for the order.

“...This would be viewed in general as a negative for L&T’s power equipment joint venture with Mitsubishi,” brokerage Nomura said in a note.

Leading utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra dropped 4 per cent after its February sales fell 3.6 per cent from January, although they were up 29 per cent from the same month a year earlier.

Maruti Suzuki, the country’s biggest car maker, bucked the trend and rallied 4.8 per cent after its February sales rose 6.5 per cent from a year ago.

DLF Ltd, the country’s largest listed developer, closed down 5.5 per cent at Rs 214.05 after Canadian investment research firm Veritas recommended selling the stock, saying the share was worth Rs 100.

The 50-share NSE index fell 0.84 per cent to 5,339.75. In the broader market, there were 1.5 losers for every gainer on volume of 863.35 million shares.

The MSCI’s measure of Asian markets other than Japan was down one per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent.

Stocks that moved
Ambuja Cements rose 2.2 per cent after its February shipments grew 12.7 per cent.

Steel Strips Wheels firmed 2 per cent after its February sales increased 34 per cent. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rose 0.4 per cent after the drugmaker received US drug regulator’s approval to sell an oral contraceptive tablet and a skin treatment gel in the United States.