BSE Sensex sheds 1.6 pct ahead of G20, Infy falls

By Sumeet Chatterjee

BANGALORE (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex fell 1.58 percent on Friday to its lowest close in more than two weeks as the gloomy global economic outlook wilted early gains, with wary investors eyeing this weekend's G20 meeting for some direction.

Infosys Technologies dropped 3.3 percent to a one month closing low of 1,217.90 rupees after CLSA said the tech bellwether might miss its revenue guidance in dollar terms for the December quarter on a worsening global financial crisis.

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) gained 12.2 percent to 20.19 rupees. NTT DoCoMo Inc and Tata Sons have priced their joint open offer for up to 20 percent of Tata Teleservices at 24.70 rupees a share.

"There is unwinding happening at higher levels because investors are not feeling confident at all in carrying positions overnight," said Amit Khurana, head of institutional equities at Colin Stewart.

"Investors are not putting too much bet on any ground-breaking announcement coming out of the G20 meeting."

The 30-share BSE index closed down 150.91 points at 9,385.42, its lowest close since Oct. 29, with 23 of its stocks falling. It rose as much as 3.04 percent in opening deals and then dropped as much as 2.82 percent during trade.

"The international outlook is not very clear at this point and, therefore, this kind of volatility will continue," said Amitabh Chakraborty, president equities at Religare Securities.

The index, which has lost more than half its value in 2008 to be one of the worst Asian performers, declined 5.8 percent in the week after rising in the last two consecutive weeks.