Sensex ends 2.4 per cent down on L&T nos; cap goods dips 5 per cent

The benchmark Sensex has seen a crack of over 400 points and the Nifty closed below the 5,100 mark, on the back of disappointing Q3FY10 numbers from the infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro, which cut FY10 sales growth guidance to 10% versus 15% aimed earlier, but reiterated that FY10 order inflow growth was seen over 30%.

The company's Q3 adjusted PAT (profit after tax) was up 15.21% to Rs 696 crore and net sales were down 6% at Rs 8,071 crore, which were below the market expectations of Rs 732 crore on the net profit and Rs Rs 10,145.2 crore on net sales.

Wholetime Director and Chief Financial Officer YM Deosthalee said, ''De-growth [in sales] is mainly due to delays seen in certain projects though there are no cancellation of orders. Some irrigation projects were delayed due to fund constraints, road projects have seen a slow pick-up and decision-making in some jobs was slow." However, ''Growth in the fourth quarter would be much higher than in the third,'' Deosthalee added. The stock declined 6.8%.

Among other capital goods companies, BHEL also declared its numbers. It has posted 35.67% jump in its Q3 net profit of Rs 1072.6 crore and its net sales increased 17.9% to Rs 7,100.3 crore. The company's bottomline was in-line with market expectations while revenues below the estimates. The stock fell 4%. Among others - Punj Lloyd was down 4.7% ahead of numbers tomorrow, Siemens down 5.89% and ABB down 2.2%.

All sectoral indices closed in red and all stocks were down on the Nifty 50. Capital Goods was the major losing sector, down over 5% followed by Power, Realty, Healthcare, Metal, Bank and Oil & Gas indices, which fell 2-3.5%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,051.14, down 423.35 points or 2.4% and the 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 2.44% or 127.55 points, to settle at 5,094.15. The broader indices also fell in-line with benchmark indices; the BSE Midcap Index was down 2.4% and Smallcap down 2.5%.