Sensex falls 169 pts; Maruti tumbles 7.4% on weak Q3 show

The BSE benchmark Sensex gave up initial gains Friday and closed 169 points lower at 36,025.54 as shares of Maruti Suzuki cracked after weak Q3 earnings, offsetting gains in Yes Bank, HDFC, ITC and TCS.

After surging over 250 points during the day to touch an intraday high of 36,474.48, the 30-share index gave up gains on widespread profit-booking in the later half of the session and hit a low of 35,953.15, before finishing 169.56 points, or 0.47 per cent down at 36,025.54.

In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty ended 69.25 points, or 0.64 per cent, down at 10,780.55, after shuttling between 10,931.70 and 10,756.45.

During the week, Sensex fell 361 points and the Nifty fell 126 points.

Brokers said sentiment suffered a jolt after the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India reported 17.21 per cent fall in its net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,799 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Maruti Suzuki emerged worst performer in the Sensex kitty, tumbling 7.40 per cent after the company announced its third quarter results.

Shares of the company ended 7.40 per cent lower at Rs 6,516.35.

Other losers include Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, M&M, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, NTPC and SBI, falling up to 4.23 per cent.

"Negative sentiments swayed across the market," said Paras Bothra, President, Equity Research, Ashika Group, adding that barring select IT and Pharma stocks, all sectors succumbed to pressure.

Meanwhile, Maruti also delivered below consensus results on account of high raw material costs, he added.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel and TCS were among the top gainers, rising up to 2.71 per cent.

Sector-wise, BSE realty index suffered the most by slumping 4.09 per cent, followed by auto index 3.14 per cent, metal 1.08 per cent, capital goods 1.02 per cent, power 0.99 per cent, capital goods 0.84 per cent, PSU 0.78 per cent, infrastructure 0.71 per cent, bankex 0.63 per cent, FMCG 0.39 per cent and healthcare 0.36 per cent.

While, consumer durables, IT and oil and gas indices ended in the positive zone.

Small-cap and mid-cap indices fell by 1.58 per cent and 1.20 per cent, respectively, largely in sync with overall market trend.

Global cues were positive as Asian stocks ended higher.

According Bothra, global markets are cautiously optimistic over the next round of trade negotiations between the US and China next week.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.65 per cent, Korea Kospi surged 1.52 per cent, Japan's Nikkei gained 0.97 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.39 per cent. Singapore Straits Times was up 0.56 per cent and Taiwan edged up by 0.94 per cent.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.93 per cent, while Paris CAC 40 was up 0.54 per cent in their late morning deals. London's FTSE too gained 0.12 per cent.