Sensex falls 114 pts on proft-booking; Bharti down 2.6 pc

The BSE benchmark Sensex today closed 114 points lower on profit-booking amid weak earnings by Bharti Airtel and BHEL.

The Sensex fell by 113.79 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 19,781.19. The gauge commenced the day higher on investors covering their pending positions. The index had lost 110 points in the previous session.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 35.85 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 5,998.90, dipping below 6,000 level.

Brokers said the market remained under pressure on investors booking profits from previous month's hefty gains.

They said sentiment further dampened on reports of weak earnings by leading companies like Bharti Airtel and BHEL.

While Bharti posted a 72 per cent decline in its net profit to Rs 284 crore for the third quarter ending December, BHEL profits declined by 17.5 per cent to Rs 1,182 crore.

In 30-BSE index components, 18 stocks declined led by Infosys, Tata Motors, HDFC, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, Larsen and Toubro and Tata Steel.

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed at 330.50 apiece, 2.62 per cent lower, while BHEL declined 1.03 per cent to 225.35 apiece on the BSE.

The realty sector index suffered the most by losing 1.16 per cent to 2,212.59 followed by auto sector by 0.98 per cent to 10,885.84. Bank index fell by 0.79 per cent to 14,465.16 and metal index by 0.78 per cent to 10,523.82.