Sensex Slides 134 Pts; Lupin, Bajaj Auto Play Spoilsport


Mumbai, Jul 23 (PTI) Disappointing earning numbers from Lupin and Bajaj Auto played spoilsport today as the market retreated from three-month highs with the benchmark BSE Sensex dropping 134.09 points to 28,370.84.

The BSE barometer was forced to give up all of its early gains as both the companies, Lupin and Bajaj Auto, reported muted earning numbers for the quarter.

Moreover, weaker rupee against dollar also led to a cautious approach. The rupee was trading 20 paise down at 63.78 (intra-day) at the Forex market.

Resuming higher, the 30-share BSE index shot up to touch the day's high of 28,578.33 in early trade on hopes of passage of the key GST bill and a firming trend at other Asian markets.

The index, however, failed to sustain initial gains in afternoon trade and slumped to 28,315.37 before settling at 28,370.84, a fall of 134.09 points, or 0.47 per cent.

The NSE Nifty slipped below 8,600 level by declining 43.70 points, or 0.51 per cent to close at 8,589.80. Intra-day, it shuttled between 8,654.75 and 8,573.80.

Yesterday, both the indices has surged to their respective three-month highs since April 16 on adoption of a select committee report on GST Bill by the Upper House of Parliament.

On the Sensex, Lupin Lab suffered the most by tumbling 5.23 per cent to Rs 1,728.60 after company reported a 15.96 per cent dip in its consolidated net profit at Rs 525.02 crore for the quarter ended June 30.

Bajaj Auto too faced selling pressure and lost 5.02 per cent to close at Rs 2,487.75 after its earnings fell short of analysts' estimates despite posting 37.14 per cent increase in its standalone net profit for the first quarter.

Other losers included, Tata Steel, TCS, Bharti Airtel, HUL, L&T, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Vedanta, Infosys, Coal India Cipla and BHEL.

Of 30-share index, as many as 18 scrips ended lower.

Sectorally, BSE teck index suffered the most by falling 0.79 per cent, followed by banking 0.71 per cent, capital goods 0.67 per cent and IT 0.65 per cent.

Globally, other Asian markets ended higher, while European shares were higher in early trade on better corporate earnings.

Source: PTI