The 30-share BSE index ended down 1.03 percent or
139.34 points, at 13,330.51. The benchmark, which barely
snapped weekly losses for seven weeks in a row last week, fell
as much as 1.5 percent during trade and is down 34.3 percent
this year. Half its components lost ground. In the broader market,
1,579 losers led 1,009 gainers on volume of 252 million shares. Infosys, which had lost 7.2 percent on Friday, fell another
7.2 percent to 1,556.10, its lowest close in three months. The
sector index dropped 5.9 percent. Traders said Morgan Stanley had downgraded Infosys to
"equal-weight" from "overweight" after the No. 2 softare
services firm on Friday kept its revenue forecast in dollars
unchanged. "There was over expectation in the IT space and after the
Infosys results investors are selling," Rajesh Jain, chief
executive at Pranav Securities, said. Top software exporter Tata Consultancy Services dropped 3.8
percent to 768.95 rupees and No. 4 Satyam fell 7.9 percent to
409.25 rupees, its lowest close in five months. JM Financial Services said in a technical report the BSE
index was in the final and most painful leg of its downtrend,
and would likely drop to 12,500 within the next 1-3 weeks. "Immediate support seen at 13,300, below which the
downtrend is likely to accelerate," it said. "With no shortage
of bearish newsflow in today's environment, pullbacks are
unlikely to last for too long." The broader 50-share NSE index fell 0.23 percent to
4,039.70 points. Elsewhere in the region, the Karachi's 100-share index
fell 4.4 percent to 11,177.31, while Colombo's All share
index .CSE firmed 0.8 percent to 2,444.86. STOCKS THAT MOVED * State-run explorer and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research)
rose 3.2 percent to 876.80 rupees on news it was looking to
takeover Russia-focused Imperial Energy (IEC.L: Quote, Profile, Research). See
[ID:nWLA6263]. * Reliance Industries (RELI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 1.5 percent to
2,046.80 rupees after a TV channel reported its chairman would
meet Sonia Gandhi, the head of the Congress party which heads
the ruling coalition, amid media reports the government was
considering imposing windfall profits on private oil firms such
as Reliance. * State Bank of India (SBI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 2.9 percent to 1,257.70
rupees after India's biggest bank said it was likely to report
double-digit net profit growth for the June quarter despite
pressure on interest rate margins. [ID:nDEL41941]