Lupin, Bajaj Auto Q1 earnings pull Sensex lower by 134 pts

The BSE benchmark Sensex may have been off to a solid start on Thursday, but in the end, let go of all the gains and ended the day 134 points down as blue-chips Bajaj Auto and Lupin took a beating post their quarterly earnings and profit-booking kicked in.

For most part of the session, the market traded in a thin range. June quarter numbers from other companies too remained off-colour, which clouded the sentiment.

On top of it, rupee's fall against the dollar made investors cautious. The 30-share Sensex started on a firmer footing at 28,540.97, hitting the day's high of 28,578.33 on hopes of passage of the key GST Bill and stronger Asian markets.

But in a reversal of fortunes, selling pressure built up in afternoon trade as the index closed the session lower by 134.09 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 28,370.84. Of the 30-share index, 18 ended in the red.

Even the NSE Nifty closed shy of the 8,600 level, down 43.70 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 8,589.80.

Intra-day, it shuttled between 8,654.75 and 8,573.80. Lupin was the big loser. The scrip fell 5.23 per cent after the drug maker reported a 16 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 525.02 crore for the June quarter. Bajaj Auto too felt the heat, down 5.02 per cent, after its earnings numbers fell short of the crease despite a 37.14 per cent rise in standalone net profit. RIL was in the same boat, down 0.46 per cent, in a cautious trade ahead of its earnings announcement on Friday. Sector-wise, technology fell the most followed by banking, capital goods, IT and healthcare. European stocks were trading in the positive terrain while in Asia, key indices ended higher.