Sensex shuts shop on Friday at 18342.56 - Eastern Financiers

Poor guidance by Infosys weighed heavy on investor sentiments as they shrugged-off better than expected factory output data and continued selling equities sending the markets lower in the last trading day of the week. The Nifty closed at 5528.55, down 65.45 points or 1.17 percent and the Sensex shut shop at 18342.56, down 299.64 points or 1.62 percent.

Industrial production barely grew at 0.6% in February from a year earlier. Revised data for January showed production at factories, mines and utilities remained unchanged at 2.4%. In the April-February period, industrial production expanded an annual 0.9%.

Retail inflation declined to 10.39% in March, snapping the five month rising trend, as prices of vegetables and protein based items eased. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was at 10.91% in February. The inflation, however, continued to remain in the double digit terrain for the fourth consecutive month in March. In urban areas, retail inflation declined to 10.38% in March from 10.84 % in the previous month. The CPI for rural population fell to 10.33 % during the month from 11.01 % in February.

Infosys came out with its Q4FY13 results. The company's net profit on a sequential basis grew marginally by 1.1% to Rs 2,394 crore as compared to Rs 2,369 in the third quarter of the FY13. The growth is a marginal 3.4% when compared to Rs 2,316 crore during the same period last year. The consolidated revenue of the Bangalore-based company for the January-March period stood at Rs 10,454 crore, registering a growth of 18.1% as against Rs 8,852 crore during the same period last year. Going forward the company expects its revenues to grow 6-10% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, lower than Nasscom's 12-14% industry growth expectations for the fiscal 2013-14.

Source : Equity Bulls

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