Infosys presented its first quarter results today, which were on expected lines. But the company said that the business environment was tough in the quarter. Speculators went short on IT, capital goods and oil sector stocks.
As a result, Infosys fell by 7.6 per cent, TCS (down 8.23 per cent), Satyam Computer (down 6.55 per cent) and Wipro (down 5.3 per cent). Open interest in the Infosys July series increased by 866,400 shares, while Satyam and TCS added open interest of 500,000 shares each.
Industrial production rose 3.8 per cent in May, much lower than the revised 6.2 per cent in April. However, the major worry was the growth in capital goods production, which slowed to 2.5 per cent in May from 11.4 per cent in the previous month.
The slower growth in capital goods saw selling in the sector stocks such as ABB, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro and Suzlon Energy. Larsen & Toubro suffered most with its July futures down 7.52 per cent on creating of short positions.
Crude oil jumped to $146 per barrel on Friday amid growing threat to supplies from Nigeria and Iran, as well as concern over a Brazilian oil workers' strike next week. Reliance was down two per cent, ONGC slipped 3.6 per cent and BPCL declined by seven per cent as speculators created short positions on oil worry.