Mumbai: Indian markets fell to multi-week lows after a severe earnings miss by the software major and sector heavyweight TCS disappointed investors.
The selling was brutal and indiscriminate as all sectoral indices bore the brunt of intense sell-off even as Mid-cap and Small-cap witnessed severe unwinding.
It sent the bellwether Nifty plunging by a massive 100.70 points, or 1.16 percent to finish at 8,606 - its lowest level in two-weeks after hitting a low of 8,596.70 in intra-day trade. It has lost 228 points in the last three days.
Sentiment was hit hard following a round of dismal Q4 earning numbers particularly from the largest software exporter TCS failed to meet street expectations and a weak start to earnings season after reporting a 27 percent dip in net profit at Rs 3,858.2 crore, impacted by one-time Rs 2,628 crore employee bonus.
The stock was the biggest loser among the bluechips on Nifty falling by over 4 percent.
Lacklustre global sentiment as well as fresh selling by FIIs alongwith some caution ahead of the petrochemical major Reliance Industries earnings too weighted on the trading ood.
After a weak start, selling pressure intensified in afternoon trade with the benchmark indices breaking all support levels to end deep in the red.
On the sectoral front, Healthcare remained depressed for the third consecutive day, sliding a heafty 3.32 percent alongwith Technology 2.12 percent, Banking 1.56 percent, Auto 1.25 percent and Infra 1.05 percent.
However, Metal bucked the weak trend to end modestly up on renewed buying interest.
Heavy selling was also seen in private lenders on worries over deteriorating asset quality and earnings downgrades.
The biggest laggard among index stocks were Sun Pharma, Lupin, Axis Bank, Indusind Bank, HDFC Bank, Idea, Yes Bank, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, L&T, Wipro, Ultracemco, Tech Mahindra, HCL-Tech, Grasim, Ambuja Cem, Dr Reddys, Maruti and Cairn.
Notable gainers included ITC, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel, ONGC, NTPC, Hindalco, HUL and BHEL.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 17,778.66 crore from Rs 18,372.94 crore yesterday. A total of 7,072.46 lakh shares changed hands in 75,68,605 trades. The market capitalisation at NSE stood at Rs 10,134,681 crore.
