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The poorer than estimated quarterly performance of L&T dented sentiments in the capital goods counters on Wednesday.
Almost three-fourth of the stocks comprising the capital goods index closed in the red today, as concerns once again surfaced about recovery of the sector, given a seven per cent drop in L&T’s Q4 profit. Shares of L&T took a hit of 5.5 per cent, sending the capital goods index tumbling.
On a day when benchmark stock indices slipped marginally by a quarter of a percentage point, the capital goods index was the worst performing one. The BSE’s capital goods index saw an erosion of 3.6 per cent or 379.46 points.
Punj Lloyd was the worst hit as its shares plunged 6.8 per cent. Stocks of ABB, AIL and BEML lost between two and three per cent of values, while those of BHEL, Lakshmi Machine, Siemens, SKF India and Suzlon Energy declined one-two per cent.
The past couple of trading sessions had brought a surprising rise in the capital goods stocks, while the index surpassed the psychological barrier of 10,000. Some of the counters had jumped about 20 per cent in recent trade.
Among the few stocks that managed to ignore the L&T development in the capital goods space were Crompton Greaves, up three per cent, Praj Industries (up 2.8 per cent) and Havells India (up 1.46 per cent).
