Markets slips to lows of the day

Reliance, Infosys drag index down

Markets have slipped to the day's low on weakness in IT, oil & gas shares. The Sensex slipped to a low of 16,053 and is now trading down 161 points at 16,057. Nifty is down 56 points at 4,869.

In Asia, bourses slipped following China's weak PMI data. Japan's Nikkei was poised to log its longest weekly losing streak in two decades, as weak Chinese factory data highlighted concerns that the euro zone debt crisis will further undermine global growth. Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite, however, were trading on a flat note.

Shares of software exporters were down on concerns of slowdown of the US economy and as jobless claims increased for the seventh week in eight and ahead of the monthly payroll data due later today. India's software exporters earn most of their revenues from software exports to the US. BSE IT index has dropped 1.8% to 5,564. From the IT pack, Wipro and Infosys have dropped 2% each to Rs 401 and Rs 2,393, respectively. TCS slipped 1.7% at Rs 1,225.

Oil & gas shares were down as the depreciating rupee would result in higher payments for crude oil imports. The Oil and Gas index was down 1.3%. Both ONGC and index heavyweight Reliance Industries were down nearly 2% each.

Capital goods shares were down on concerns of order inflows coupled with economic growth slowdown after government data Thursday showed a sharp drop in fourth quarter GDP growth, which slumped to a 9 year low. The Capital Goods Index was down nearly 2%. Capital Goods majors, BHEL and L&T were both down 1.7% each.

Meanwhile, BSE FMCG index has managed to hold on to gains and is up 0.6% at 4,604 on the back of buying interest after upgrading select FMCG majors by a foreign brokerage.

Meanwhile, Macquarie upgraded Hindustan Unilever to "Outperform" from "Underperform," and raised its target price to Rs 600 from Rs 340. The stock was down 1.2% at Rs 421. On the other hand, ITC was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks and was up 1.5% at Rs 234. Hindalco and Coal India advanced marginally in trades.

 

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki today reported 4.99% fall in total sales at 98,884 units for May. The company had sold 1,04,073 units in the same month last year, the company said in a statement. Maruti shares were trading flat at Rs 1,106.

Among other shares, Liberty Shoes zoomed 17% to Rs 125, its highest price in last eighteen months, on the back of huge volumes. On Thursday, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation has acquired 100,000 shares or 0.58% stake of the company at an average price of Rs 109.48 per share through bulk deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Educomp Solutions has slumped 1.7% to Rs 138 in noon trades after posting dissapointing results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. The company's consolidated net profit declined 58% to Rs 61.54 crore on a  5.10% increase in net sales to Rs 513.61 crore in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2012 from the corresponding year ago period. The company had registered a net profit of Rs 145.66 crore in the fourth quarter of FY2010-11, Educomp said in a statement.

BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 2,486 shares traded, 1,424 shares have decline while 945 shares have advanced in trades.