MUMBAI, May 7 (Business Standard): Markets slipped on Wednesday, tracking weak global cues amid uncertainty ahead of election results on May 16. Investors worldwide remained wary of US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony later today.
Ukraine fears also weighed on sentiment today, with Russia rejecting a peace proposal amidst civil war-like situation in the former Soviet union republic.
Back home, global investment bank UBS's downgrade of IT bellwether Infosys index coupled with the strengthening rupee pushed BSE IT index down 2.5 per cent to hit multi-month lows. UBS downgraded the IT bellwether Infosys to 'sell', citing the longer-than-expected turnaround time at the IT outsourcer. Heavyweight IT stocks such as Infosys and TCS shed 1-3 per cent, pulling the benchmark stock indices lower.
HCL Tech slipped 4.5 per cent, Tech Mahindra was down almost 3.6 per cent and Wipro shed almost 2 per cent from the IT pack.
The rupee is trading at 60.06 versus its previous close of 60.11/12 on broad losses in the dollar versus other major and regional units, but a sharp fall will be averted on caution ahead of the national elections outcome next week
The 30-share Sensex slipped 184 points or 0.8 per cent to close at 22,324 levels while 50-unit Nifty index shed 63 points at 6,663 levels.
Top blue-chip laggards were Infosys, HDFC, TCS, Wipro and Hindalco, while State Bank of India, Sun Pharma, NTPC and BPCL were gainers.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 450.93 million on Tuesday, as per provisional exchange data.
Meanwhile, shares in Asia stumbled to a one-month low and the safe-haven yen hovered just below a multi-month high against the dollar on Wednesday as the heightened possibility of Ukraine slipping into civil war depressed risk appetite.
Japan's Nikkei share average tumbled 2.9 per cent to a three-week low on Wednesday, posting its biggest daily drop since mid-March, as a stronger yen dragged down exporters and concerns about Ukraine curbed investors' risk appetites. The Nikkei closed down 424.06 points to 14,033.45, its lowest closing level since April 15.
The broader Topix fell 2.6 per cent to 1,152.01, with 2.1 billion shares changing hands, the largest volume since April 11.
Pharma major Lupin Ltd posted a growth of 40 per cent in its net profit for FY13-14 at Rs 18.36 billion, against Rs 13.14 billion for FY 2012-13, on strong growth in key markets like the US, Europe and South Africa. Net sales for the year grew by 17.2 per cent to Rs 11,087 crore during FY 2013-14, up from Rs 94.62 billion in FY 2012-13. The stock corrected little over 1 per cent to close at Rs 990.20, despite posting healthy numbers.
