Mumbai: Indian shares traded lower on Thursday, weighed down by stocks such as Bajaj Auto Ltd and Lupin Ltd, while profit taking in bluechips also hurt sentiment. Bajaj Auto fell 5 per cent after its earnings fell short of analysts' estimates despite posting a 37 per cent increase in quarterly profit.
Lupin fell 5 per cent ahead of reporting its earnings on a media report that the US Food and Drug Administration had inspected its manufacturing unit in Goa last week and had made several observations post inspection. Lupin was not immediately available to comment. Lupin also recorded a 16 per cent fall in consolidated profit for the quarter ended June.
Selling pressure in financials, healthcare and industrial stocks made sure the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty erased most of their gains from Wednesday, when the markets closed at a three month high. The Sensex was down 0.14 per cent while the NSE index shed 0.2 percent.
Bank stocks such as ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were down between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent. Blue chips Larsen & Toubro down 0.97 per cent and Hindustan Unilever down 1.84 also weighed on the market. Cairn India Ltd jumped 6.56 percent after the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the company's former parent Cairn Energy Plc would vote against Vedanta Ltd's $2.3 billion buyout offer for Cairn India's minority shareholders.
Tata Steel Ltd's shares fell 3.32 per cent as the outlook for the global steel industry continued to be bleak.
