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The Sensex fell for a third consecutive session on Wednesday to mark its lowest close in almost two weeks, after Larsen & Toubro (L&T) slumped about six per cent, as its order book guidance sparked worries about the health of the domestic economy. The L&T guidance has sparked concerns about corporate profits, after a mixed set of company results in the January-March quarter and a generally cautious tone about the outlook for Indian companies.
The benchmark BSE Sensex fell 0.25 per cent, or 49.37 points, to end at 20,062.24, falling for a third day and marking its lowest close since May 9. The broader Nifty fell 0.32 per cent, or 19.60 points, to end at 6,094.50 L&T slumped 5.7 per cent, marking its biggest single day fall since Jan 2010, after reporting a worse-than-expected 6.9 per cent drop in quarterly profit to Rs 1,788 crore.
The country's biggest engineering company also expects order inflows to rise about 20 per cent this financial year, Executive Chairman A M Naik said, which according to many analysts, disappointed investors who expected more.
Among other blue-chips Reliance Industries ended 1.2 per cent lower, while Tata Steel ended 0.9 per cent lower.
Zee Entertainment also fell 1.4 per cent after its January-March profit rose 12.5 per cent to Rs 180 crore. Analysts said results were largely positive, but attributed the falls to profit-taking.
Lenders such as HDFC Bank fell, continuing retreats this week after recent sharp gains.
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) ended 0.2 per cent lower, while HDFC Bank fell 0.6 per cent declining for a fourth day after making its all-time high of Rs 724 on May 16.
However among stocks that gained, United Spirits rose 3.2 per cent after Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an "overweight" rating, saying new owner Diageo could put a greater focus on profitable growth for the liquor maker.
Tech Mahindra also rose 3.7 per cent after its January-March quarter net profit rose 24 per cent, beating estimates.
