Sensex, Nifty end trading at three-and-half-month low

With persisting concerns over capital gains tax on foreign funds clouding sentiments, a benchmark index for Indian equities, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed 297.08 points, or 1.07 percent, down on Friday, to its lowest level in three-and-a-half months.

The disappointing fourth quarter results of IT bellwether Infosys added to the concerns.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened at 27,804.58 points, closed at 27,437.94 points, down 297.08 points, or 1.07 percent, over the previous day's close at 27,735.02 points. It had touched a high of 27,829.11 points and a low of 27,344.70 points in the day's trade.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 93.05 points or 1.11 percent lower.

In Friday's trade, heavy selling pressure was seen in realty, consumer durables, IT and capital goods sectors. Foreign funds remained net sellers to the tune of $44.58 million during the day.

"Indian shares fell more than 1 percent on Friday to their lowest close in nearly three-and-a-half months, dragged by a 6 percent slump in Infosys after the software services exporter's January-March earnings fell short of expectations," said brokerage Sharekhan.

"Terrible day: Midcaps get battered," it added.

Among the 12 sector-specific indices of the Mumbai bourse, that for realty was down 3.85 percent, consumer durables index dropped by 3.18 percent, the IT index slipped by 2.78 percent and capital goods index fell by 2.57 percent.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were down with a relatively higher margin of 1.17 percent and 1.27 percent, respectively, even as mid-cap index was down by around 1.62 percent. Small-cap stocks took a major hit, with the index down 2.66 percent.

The major Sensex gainers on Friday were: ONGC, up 2.60 percent at Rs.315.80; Maruti, up 1.92 points at Rs.3,561; Tata Consultancy Services, up 1.63 percent at Rs.2,496.90; and ITC, up 1.43 percent at Rs.347.15.

The losers were: Infosys, down 5.95 percent at Rs.1,996.25; Cipla, down 3.89 percent at Rs.637.80; Sesa Sterlite, down 3.16 percent at Rs.205.05; and Hindalco, down 2.78 percent at Rs.131.25.

During trading hours, Infosys had reported its fourth quarter results for the last financial year and said the net profits were up by 3.5 percent over the corresponding period of previous year. This was below market expectations.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went down by 0.83 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped by 0.46 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained by 0.84 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.34 percent, France's CAC 40 went up by 0.35 percent and Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.56 percent at the closing in the Indian markets.