Mumbai: Indian shares extended losses to 1% by Tuesday afternoon, tracking the weakness in Asian and European markets and disappointing corporate earnings announced over the weekend.
At 1:56pm, the 30-share BSE index was down 1.06% at 15,727.23 points, with 21 components in the red. The 50-share NSE index was down 1.11% at 4,659.25.
Indian shares are trading volatile on Tuesday afternoon after pulling back on Tuesday from an early slide, led by gains in ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro, as investors picked bargains after a steep fall.
Private-sector lender ICICI Bank climbed 2.9% to Rs812.90, after it posted an unexpected rise in quarterly profit, helped by trading gains and lower provisions, which offset a rise in bad debts.
Larsen & Toubro was up 1.7% at Rs1,594 after the engineering and construction firm said it won a $1.5 billion order.
Auto companies pulled ahead on robust vehicle sales for October.Top vehicle maker Tata Motors climbed 1.9% to Rs575.90 after its sales in October grew by 34% from a year earlier.
Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra and Mahindra were up 1.5% and 2% respectively.
The market had started shakily and fell nearly 9% after a three-day weekend, weighed down by losses in world markets and disappointing earnings from large companies.
“Consolidation should continue over few sessions but a steep downside is ruled out,” said Vaibhav Sanghavi, director of Ambit Capital.
Reliance Communications fell as much as 7.8% after the No. 2 mobile operator said on the weekend its quarterly net profit halved as network expansion costs, derivative losses and low-paying users weighed.
“We reiterate reduce on Reliance Communications as low tariffs are unlikely to provide sustainable advantage over the competition,” BNP Paribas Securities said in a note.
Reliance Communications was down 4.4% at Rs168.20 after hitting their lowest since 25 March.
Energy giant Reliance Industries shed 1.4% to Rs1,905.25 after it posted its fourth straight decline in quarterly profits late on Thursday.
Consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever and aluminium producer Hindalco shed 3% and 3.9% respectively following a drop in quarterly profit.
In the broader market, losers led gainers in the ratio of 1.7:1 on volume of 167 million shares.