Sensex falls over 250 points; cement, FMCG stocks fall

Reuters Market Eye - The BSE Sensex falls 1.5 percent and the Nifty inches down 1.42 percent, heading towards their lowest closes in 2 weeks. Ambuja Cements slumps 10.4 percent while ACC falls 3.9 percent after owner Switzerland-based Holcim announced a complex restructuring of its two Indian units that was seen by some analysts as detrimental to minority shareholders.

Hindustan Unilever falls 3.2 percent on profit-taking a day ahead of its June-quarter results, after touching an all-time high of 725 rupees on Wednesday.

Hindustan Unilever extended falls after its parent Unilever reported underlying sales growth of 5 percent for the second quarter, just shy of market expectations, and said that growth was slowing in emerging markets.

 

ITC . India's largest cigarette maker, falls 4.6 percent after its revenue missed analysts' expectations on lower-than-expected volume growth in cigarette segment, dealers say.

ITC posted an 18 percent jump in quarterly net profit on Thursday, in line with market expectations.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)