Sensex opens 117 points down on Infosys'' results

Mumbai, Jan 13 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmarkSensex slipped by nearly 117 points in the opening tradetoday, as IT stocks suffered setback after the industrybellwether Infosys Technologies posted third quarter earningslower than the market expectations.

The 30-share barometer, which had gained 337.76 points inthe previous session, declined by 116.95 points at 19,417.15points.

Similarly, National Stock Exchange index Nifty declinedby 32.15 points to 5,831.10 level.

Brokers said market turned bearish after InfosysTechnologies declared lower-than-expected third quarterearnings, triggering massive selling of IT companies shares.

However, they said, firming trend in global marketsrestricted losses on the domestic bourses here.

Infosys Technologies today reported 14.17 per cent growthin its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,780 crore for the thirdquarter ended December 31, 2010.

The company share was trading at Rs 3257.65, which wasdown by over three per cent since its closing price yesterday.

Meanwhile, in other markets in Asia, Japan''s Nikkei was0.56 per cent up while Hong Kong''s Hang Seng index rose by0.71 per cent in the morning trade today.

In the US, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.72 percent higher in the yesterday''s trade.