Indian benchmark indices ended lower on Thursday as weakness in IT and telecom stocks buckled markets despite gains in financials.
Sliding for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 345.80 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 83,190.28. During the day, it declined 401.11 points or 0.48 per cent to 83,134.97.
On similar lines, the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 120.85 points or 0.47 per cent to 25,355.25.
As many as 2,064 stocks declined, while 1,959 advanced and 138 remained unchanged on the BSE.
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On the sectoral front, Nifty IT led the losses, dragged down by declines in Wipro and Infosys. Auto, Pharma, and FMCG indices also opened lower. However, in the broader market, both midcap and smallcap indices managed to post modest gains.
The BSE midcap gauge dipped 0.28 per cent while the smallcap index inched higher by 0.12 per cent.
Maruti, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Trent and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.
Analysts said they expected volatility to persist amid rising anticipation of a potential trade deal with the US and the kick-off of the June-quarter earnings season, with TCS saying its net profit has risen 6 per cent to ₹12,760 crore in April-June.
The Tata group company, TCS, had posted a net profit of ₹12,040 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The company’s revenue inched up by 1.3 per cent to ₹63,437 crore from ₹62,613 crore in the year-ago period, but was down 3 per cent on a constant currency perspective.
Its operating profit margin expanded 0.30 per cent on-quarter to 24.5 per cent in the April-June period, as per a company statement.
The earnings were announced after market hours and TCS shares today ended at ₹3,395 on the NSE, up by ₹11.20 or 0.33 per cent.
“The continued global macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainties caused a demand contraction,” its managing director and chief executive K Krithivasan said.
It reported new deal signings of USD 9.4 billion during the quarter, while the overall headcount was at 6,13,069 at the end of the quarter, up by over 6,000 on-year.
“We saw robust deal closures during this quarter. We remain closely connected to our customers to help them navigate the challenges impacting their business, through cost optimization, vendor consolidation and AI-led business transformation,” Krithivasan said.
The quarter was also marked by a robust Order Book and operational resilience, said the company in its filing to the exchanges. The Q1 Total Contract Value (TCV) stood at $9.4 billion.
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