Infy, RIL drag Sensex 138 points down; IIP data non-event

Bears remained powerful for the whole session on Thursday on bleak guidance from Infosys for FY12. However, it managed to trim some looses in late trade on better than expected Spain's bond auction. Meanwhile, though industrial output improved significantly in November, it proved to an non-event for the market.

The Sensex dropped 138.35 points, to close at 16,037.51 and the Nifty fell 29.70 points to 4,831.25.

Shares of technology bellwether Infosys was hammered out of shape today, falling 8.4%. The second largest software services exporter reported a growth of 24.5% in Q3 net profit of Rs 2,372 crore as against previous quarter, which was better than analysts' expectations. The street was disappointed with its dollar revenue guidance for FY12 and flattish guidance for the fourth quarter.

The company expects FY12 revenue to grow at 16.4% as against earlier guidance of 17.1-19.1%. Its CEO and MD SD Shibulal said the global economy, driven by slower growth in developed markets coupled with the European crisis, could impact the growth of the IT industry.

Among technology stocks, TCS tanked 3.9% and Wipro was down 2.6%.

Economic data
The industrial output (IIP) for November showed a good growth, improving from a negative 4.7% (revised upwards from -5.1%) in October to 5.9% in November. The growth mainly came in from manufacturing, consumer durables and consumer non-durables. Manufacturing output, which constitutes about 76% of the industrial production, grew an annual 6.6% versus negative 6% in a year ago period.