(RTTNews) - Relentless selling across the board on account of the settlement of near-term derivative contracts dragged the Indian market sharply lower on Thursday. Inflation concerns also daunted investors as a modest rise in food inflation after two consecutive weeks of decline raised fears of another round of interest rate hike by the central bank before March.
Government data released today showed that India's annual food inflation for the week ended January 15 inched up marginally to 15.57 percent from 15.52 percent in the previous week, snapping a two-week decline. However, the fuel price index for the week edged down slightly to 10.87 percent from the 11.53 percent rise a week ago.
The benchmark BSE Sensex closed down 285 points or 1.50 percent near the day's low at 18,684, with 28 of its components declining. Tata Motors (up 2.48 percent) and TCS (up 0.62 percent) closed in the green.
Property developer DLF led the decliners with a 5.42 percent loss. Copper producer Sterlite plunged 5.28 percent after an arbitration panel said that the government has no obligation to sell the remaining 49 percent stake in Balco.
Utility vehicles manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra slumped 4.87 percent on a brokerage downgrade. Hindustan Unilever tumbled 3.78 percent, extending Tuesday's losses on weak Q3 results. Telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication fell between 3 percent and 4 percent on concerns that the recent roll-out of mobile number portability service will squeeze their margins.
Banking heavyweights such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank fell around 2 percent each. IT bellwether Infosys declined 1.81 percent, heavyweight Reliance Industries eased 1.62 percent, state-run oil explorer ONGC lost 1.58 percent and car maker Maruti Suzuki ended down 1.23 percent.
Drug maker Ranbaxy lost 4 percent after its president and chief financial officer Omesh Sethi quit the company. Hindustan Construction Company plunged 5.25 percent after its subsidiary Lavasa Corp sought six weeks' time to submit documents that were asked by the Environment Ministry.
Newly-listed Midvalley Entertainment rose to a high of Rs.76.50 before closing at Rs.58.05, down around 17 percent compared to its initial public offering price of Rs.70 a share. JSW Steel and Subex plunged around 5 percent each on disappointing Q3 results. Mangalam Cement fell 2.73 percent after it posted a Rs.2.53 crore net loss for the quarter ended December.
Meanwhile, Marico advanced 2.53 percent after the FMCG firm posted a 12 percent rise in its third-quarter consolidated net profit. R Systems International rallied 3.87 percent after it bought U.K.-based Computaris International for GBP 9 million.
