Nifty ends 41 pts lower; TECk, realty, cap goods drag

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The benchmark Sensex shed 124 points in late trade on Friday, pulled down by technology, FMCG, capital goods, realty, cement, select auto, metal and power companies' shares. Heavyweight ICICI Bank plunged nearly 3%; even Reliance Industries wiped out its gains and closed flat.

Disappointing earnings and weak global cues put pressure on the markets in last one hour of trade; European markets like Britain's FTSE, France's CAC and Germany's DAX were trading 0.5-0.7% lower. US index futures like Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures fell 0.4% each. Asian markets like Straits Times, Kospi, Taiwan, Hang Seng and Shanghai declined 0.3-0.65%. Nikkei fell 1.64%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,868.29, down 123.71 points or 0.69% and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 41.30 points or 0.76% to settle at 5,367.60.

Hugh Young, MD of Aberdeen Asset Management Asia there had been quite a lot of flow into India based funds, however, he added that he saw some economic slowdown in India and some regression in earnings growth of companies. "India is no more a cheap market, so we won't be increasing our exposure in India," he said. 

Quarterly numbers of ABB, a leading power and automation technology company cam in below expectations. It has reported 54.5% decline in net profit of Rs 38 crore for the quarter ended June 2010 while CNBC-TV18 expected at Rs 84 crore. It was the top loser on NSE Nifty; lost 4.3%.

Even Siemens numbers were quite disappointing; its adjusted PAT was down 22% at Rs 156.1 crore. L&T numbers also came in this week, which were also below expectations. The BSE Capital Goods Index was down over 1%; BHEL and L&T declined 1% each. Siemens lost 3%.

TCS, Infosys and Wipro from technology pack were down 1-1.6% while HCL Tech rallied 3.7%, as its June quarter numbers were very strong. Bharti Airtel was the leading loser on Nifty; fell 3.2%. Among other telecom stocks, Reliance Communications was down 1.7% while Idea Cellular rose 2.8%.

India's largest 2-wheeler maker Hero Honda reported less-than-expected numbers on Thursday after market hours. Its Q1 net profit was down 1.6% at Rs 492 crore while expectation was at Rs 563 crore. The stock slipped over 3% and Tata Motors fell 2.35% while M&M gained 2.7%.

ONGC managed to recover some losses and ended 0.5% lower. Its Q1 net profit was down 24% at Rs 3661 crore while expectation was at Rs 3920 crore. In the oil & gas space, GAIL lost 3% while BPCL rose 0.4%.