Benchmarks turn bearish; snap 3-day gains, TCS leads fall in IT

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks ended three days of gains to close modestly in the red on Monday, weighed by bearish global cues and robust selling in IT counters following lacklustre Q1 results from TCS.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which opened on the backfoot, witnessed strong buying in late-afternoon trade. However, it could not sustain the momentum and closed 86.61 points or 0.16 per cent lower at 54,395.23.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 4.60 points or 0.03 per cent to end at 16,216.

Bharti Airtel was the biggest loser among the Sensex constituents, dropping 5.03 per cent, followed by TCS which lost 4.64 per cent after its earnings failed to match market expectations.

The country's largest software exporter TCS on Friday reported a 5.2 per cent rise in June quarter net profit to Rs 9,478 crore, restricted by the impact of annual wage hikes and promotions that took operating profit margins to multi-quarter lows.

Spooked by the results, other IT stocks too suffered strong losses in Monday's session, with HCL Tech, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra shedding up to 4.10 per cent.

In contrast, Tata Steel, M&M, Dr Reddy's, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries climbed as much as 3.04 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.07 per cent and the midcap index gained 0.63 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, teck fell the most by 3.08 per cent, followed by IT (2.70 per cent), capital goods (0.38 per cent) and telecom (0.06 per cent).

Power emerged as the biggest gainer with a jump of 4.21 per cent, followed by utilities (4.17 per cent), oil & gas (1.97 per cent) and energy

(1.84 per cent).