Sensex sheds 1000 points dragged down by Infosys, HUL, Reliance

NEW DELHI : IT heavyweights led by Infosys, HUL and Reliance Industries dragged the Sensex down to a sharp fall of more than 1,000 points on Friday.

Infosys is down more than 8 per cent, HUL is down 3.8 per and Reliance is down more than 3 per cent.

IT majors, HCL Tech is down 4 per cent while Wipro is down more than 3 per cent.

Weak Q1 results by Infosys and Hindustan Unilever are weighing on Indian indices.

HUL’s revenue growth of 6 per cent YoY was below our expectations, HDFC Securities said in a report. HUL is down 3 per cent in trade on Friday.

Domestic volume growth, at 3 per cent, was below our estimate. We note volume growth was impacted as trade reduced stock levels (1-3 days) in lieu of price cuts. In home care, fabric wash grew in double digits, led by the premium portfolio while household care too grew in double digits (volume-led), driven by outperformance in dishwash, the report said.

Further price reduction taken in soaps. Hair care registered mid-single digit volume-led growth, while skincare/oral care grew in double digits.

On Infosys, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said the FY24 guidance reset will impact near-term stock view. Infosys reported 1QFY24 revenue at USD4.62b, up 1.0 per cent QoQ in CC terms with 20 bps QoQ decline in operating margin. While on a negative surprise, the company has sharply lowered its FY24 revenue growth guidance to 1.0-3.5 per cent YoY CC from 4.0-7.0 per cent YoY CC earlier.

The substantial cut in the guidance is majorly attributed to lower-than-expected volume and discretionary spends, delays in decision-making and push-outs in anticipated mega deals, the report said.

“We lower our below-guidance FY24 estimates (earlier at 3.8 per cent YoY CC) by 120bp despite the 325bp cut in guidance at the mid-point, to take into account the weaker demand commentary and project delays,” the report said.

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