Stock markets consolidate; Bajaj Auto, Lupin weigh on Nifty

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian shares traded lower on Thursday, weighed down by stocks such as Bajaj Auto Ltd and Lupin Ltd while profit-taking in bluechips also hurt sentiment.

Bajaj Auto fell 5 percent after its earnings fell short of analysts' estimates despite posting a 37 percent increase in quarterly profit.

Lupin fell 5 percent ahead of reporting its earnings on a media report that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had inspected its manufacturing unit in Goa last week and had made several observations post inspection. Lupin was not immediately available to comment.

Lupin also recorded a 16 percent fall in consolidated profit for the quarter ended June.

 

Selling pressure in financials, healthcare and industrial stocks made sure the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty erased most of their gains from Wednesday, when the markets closed at a three month high.

The Sensex was down 0.14 percent while the NSE index shed 0.2 percent.

Bank stocks such as ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were down between 0.5 percent and 1 percent.

Blue chips Larsen & Toubro down 0.97 percent and Hindustan Unilever down 1.84 also weighed on the market.

Cairn India Ltd jumped 6.56 percent after the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the company's former parent Cairn Energy Plc would vote against Vedanta Ltd's $2.3 billion buyout offer for Cairn India's minority shareholders.

Tata Steel Ltd's shares fell 3.32 percent as the outlook for the global steel industry continued to be bleak.

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo; Editing by Anand Basu)