Indian Shares Fall to One-Week Closing Low

Indian stocks fell to a one-week closing low as profit taking of a few companies affected the sentiments of investors on Tuesday. Both indices have marked their lowest since 21 July.

BSE Sensex ended 0.52 percent or 135.52 points lower at 25991.23 points, while NSE Nifty ended 0.54 percent or 41.75 points lower at 7748.70 points.

Stock of Hindustan Unilever rose by Rs.23 at Rs.686 as the company breached its quarterly estimates, while share price of Havells India slipped due to taxes on its earnings. ITC Ltd on Tuesday announced its net profit of 16 percent and over 25 percent rise, in the first quarter sales ended on June 30.

Investors are also cautioned ahead of the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts due on Thursday and also revenue results of Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank this week ahead.

"The week is chock-a-block with economic events. If the Nifty (NSE index) manages to close above the 7,850 mark, which presently looks difficult, we can possibly gun for the 8,050 mark. Support is at 7,650," Reuters quoted Jyotheesh Kumar, executive vice-president of HDFC Securities.

The Reserve Bank of India's monetary review on 5 August would be the next big trigger for Indian stocks.

ICICI Bank slumped 1.5 percent after gaining over 34 percent in 2014 till Friday's ending, while Reliance Industries Ltd closed 1.6 percent lower. Among other blue chips, Tata Steel Ltd plunged 1.7 percent and Power Grid Corp of India lost 1.2 percent.

Engineering company Larsen and Toubro fell 1 percent ahead of its June quarter results later in the day. The company later said its April-June net profit more than doubled to 9.67 billion rupees.

Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) shares ended 0.1 percent lower, while Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd fell 0.4 percent.

Stocks of Tata Motors fell 1.6 percent, adding to Friday's 5 percent decline after its unit Jaguar Land Rover said it would cut prices of three models in China, due to the government's anti-monopoly probe.

But Hindustan Unilever rose 3.5 percent after better-than-expected volume growth in the April-June quarter resulted earnings that beat its estimates.

Bank of Baroda gained 0.5 percent after posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings of 13.62 billion rupees, due to lower non-tax provisions rules and improved net interest income.