BHEL, L&T fall; doubts rise over output data

Shares in power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro dropped amid expectations for weak February industrial output data due on Thursday.

The notoriously volatile data was seen falling from the 6.8% year-on-year growth reported for January, according to traders, potentially to below 5%. The uncertainty about the data sparked a round of profit-taking in the two stocks after both recently outperformed the Nifty's gains of 0.5% last week. BHEL shares were down 3.5% after surging 6.4% last week. Meanwhile, Larsen & Toubro fell 2.7%, wiping the gains of 2.77% over the three trading sessions in last week's holiday-shortened period.