The markets in the week gone by behaved exactly as expected and failed to recover ground. Infosys results were slightly below expectation but the reduction in guidance for the full year 2012-13 spooked the stock and the markets. The share was a big loser and the sentiment was badly affected. Later on in the day, TCS announced better than expected results but the same was a little too late to rally the market. The BSE SENSEX lost 307.42 points or 1.75 per cent to close at 17,213.70 points. The NSE NIFTY lost 89.70 points or 1.69 per cent to close at 5,227.25 points. The broader indices like the BSE500, BSE200 and BSE100 lost 1.53 per cent, 1.60 per cent and 1.64 per cent respectively. The BSE MIDCAP lost 1.05 per cent while the BSE SMALLCAP lost 1.25 per cent. The best performing index was the BSE FMCG, which was almost flat losing a mere 0.01 percent. The worst performing were the BSE IT down 5.20 per cent, BSE METAL down 3.28 per cent and BSE AUTO 1.87 per cent. In individual stocks, there were few gainers but Jaypee Infratech was a big gainer up 7.66 per cent. IT stocks were big losers with Infosys down 8.84 per cent, Wipro down 8.39 per cent and Tata Steel down 4.87 per cent.

Future warning: S D Shibulal (r), CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Limited, and Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan pose after announcing the company’s third quarter results in Bangalore in January this year. Indian IT giant Infosys posted a 33 percent rise in its quarterly profit, but warned of a slowdown caused by global uncertainty and the European debt crisis then. Prophetic words. Pic/AFP