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Market snapped its three day winning streak as investors booked profits at higher levels. Weakness in Asia and Europe dragged domestic benchmark share indices with banking and financial stocks leading the decline.
The 30-share Sensex ended 255 points, or 1.25 percent lower than its previous close at 20,193 levels and the 50-unit Nifty was down 83 points at 6,001.
"Bulls would be stronger than bear only if Index closed above 6090, yesterday post violating on intraday basis and closing just below 6090 had attracted profit booking on charts whereas support expected is around 5975 & 5960. Traders could watch the level of 5930 as a strict stoploss for all long positions as close below this level would open doors for 5830." said Ravi Nathani -Technical analyst, nsetoday.com.
Asian markets retreated from their recent highs as investors and booked profits after gains in the previous five straight sessions. The Nikkei which had surged nearly 5% in the previous three sessions ended down 1.8%, the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were down 0.5% each while Straits Times which had seen a correction yesterday was trading with marginal gains.
European shares were also trading weak weighed down by profit taking in select bank shares and global food major Nestle. CAC, DAX and FTSE down 0.2-0.4% each.
Moving in line with the equity market, the rupee fell by 29 paise to 62.38 against the dollar in late noon trades today on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers.
BSE Bankex and Capital goods were the top losers among the sectoral indices down a whopping 2 percent followed by Capital goods, Oil and Gas, Metal, power and Healthcare indices all between 1.6-1.8 percent.
Financials contributed the most to the Sensex decline with HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank down between 1.6-2 percent.
In the Oil and Gas segment, ONGC was down over 3 percent ahead of its third quarter earnings while index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 1 percent after the Delhi chief minister on Tuesday ordered the state Anti-corruption Branch to file a case against the company for overpricing of natural gas and underproduction from KG-D6 field.
Cipla was the top Sensex loser down nearly over 7 percent after reporting 17 percent year-on-year (yoy) fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 284 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3FY14), due to higher cost. The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 340 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
Coal India was down over 3.5 percent amid disappointing Q3 earnings. The state owned company reported a decline of 11.4% in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 on lower e-auction realisation and quantity.
Capital goods shares were weak after dismal IIP data for December. Dragged down by manufacturing, particularly of consumer durables, industrial production shrank by 0.6 per cent in December 2013 as against 1.3 per cent in November, the third straight month of contraction, official data showed on Wednesday. BHEL and L&T were down 1-2% each.
Among other shares, Eros International Media has moved higher by nearly 6 percent to Rs 166 after reporting a strong 41.5% year-on-year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 92 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3), on back of strong operational performance. The company had profit of Rs 65 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
Shares of Great Eastern Shipping Company today rose by as much as 6.6 percent after the Reserve Bank allowed foreign institutional investors to buy up to 33 percent of the paid-up equity capital in the company.
The broader markets were also weak with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices down 0.8-1 percent.
Market breadth continued to remain weak with 1,661 losers and 921 gainers on the BSE.
Results corner
The flagship company of the Aditya Birla group -Hindalco Industries reported 23 percent yoy fall in its standalone net profit at Rs 334 crore for Q3FY14, due to higher raw material cost and tax outgo.
It had reported profit of Rs 434 crore, which included one-time gain of Rs 144 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal.
Revenue from operations grew 5.8% yoy at Rs 7,273 crore in Q3FY14, driven by higher volume, Hindalco Industries said in a statement.
Analysts on an average had expected profit of Rs 290 crore on revenue of Rs 6,797 crore for the quarter. The stock slipped 3.1 percent to Rs 100.20 on the BSE.
Drug major Sun Pharma, reported a 74% increase in net profit at Rs 1,531 crore for the quarter ended December 2013. It was Rs 881 crore in the same period a year ago.
The net sales rose 50% to Rs 4,287 crore as against Rs 2,852 crore in December 2012.
The stocks closed 0.7 percent higher at 615.30-a-piece on BSE.
