Sensex slips 42pts in 1st loss in 5 days; TCS, Bharti laggards

Traders said telecom stocks, including Bharti that shed 2.57 per cent, faced selling after fears of excessive competition came to the fore as the ongoing spectrum auction entered the 43rd round of bidding on seventh day today.  Among IT stocks, TCS fell 2.32 per cent but Infosys and Wipro bucked the trend.

Banking counters, including SBI, declined as the two-day nationwide strike by public sector bank staff began, traders added. Uneasiness over macroeconomic signals after advance growth estimates also kept the market volatile.  The falling trend was cushioned to some extent as realty and oil & gas sector shares rose on valued buying. Midcap and smallcap indices closed in the green, indicating some retail investor interest.

In buzzing large-cap stocks, DLF shot up by the most in two months by surging 2.94 per cent after announcing the sale of its luxury hospitality chain Amanresorts for USD 358 million. Sun Pharma climbed to a three-month high and Tata Motors gained ahead of its earnings.

Sectorally, the BSE Teck sector index suffered the most by losing 0.84 per cent, followed by Banking index (down 0.53 per cent), Metal index (0.51 per cent) and IT index (0.42 per cent). On the other hand, six out 12 indices gained.