Traders at the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Sensex slid 0.4% to 26,559.15 at the close yesterday.

Bloomberg/Mumbai


Indian stocks dropped for a sixth day, its longest losing streak in about five months, as quarterly earnings at some of the largest companies missed forecasts and reports showed contraction in China’s manufacturing sector.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, the most valuable drugmaker, fell to a four-week low after saying growth in revenue and profit will be adversely impacted in the year ending in March. Larsen & Toubro, the top engineering company, decreased for a 10th day after paring its outlook on revenue growth last week. Bajaj Auto was the worst performer on the S&P BSE Sensex after sales slid in October.
The Sensex slid 0.4% to 26,559.15 at the close, completing the longest stretch of losses since June. While 72% of its members that posted results for the September quarter have matched or beaten estimates, versus 60% in June, the gauge’s profits have risen just 2% over the previous quarter, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The index’s valuation climbed to 15.9 times projected 12-month earnings last week, the most expensive since August.
“Earnings are looking tired across most sectors, while valuations in some high-growth sectors like pharma and consumers are looking stretched,” Parag Thakkar, the head of institutional sales at HDFC Securities in Mumbai, said in an interview to Bloomberg TV India. “Plus, there are concerns of a global slowdown in spite of the liquidity infusion. The stage isn’t set yet for good times.”
Sun Pharmaceutical declined 2.7% to its lowest level since September 29. That trimmed this year’s gain to 4.7%. Growth in revenue and profit will be “adversely impacted” due to temporary supply constraints at Halol plant and charges and expenses of Ranbaxy integration, according to an exchange filing on Saturday.
Larsen & Toubro slid 1.6%, extending its 10-day loss to 13.5%. That’s the longest losing streak since December 2014. Hindalco Industries, an aluminium maker, slid 3.7%, while Tata Steel, the largest producer, tumbled 3.1%. The stocks were among the worst performers on a gauge of metal producers.
Bajaj Auto tumbled 4.6% after sales tumbled 9% last month, while Indian Overseas Bank plunged 11% after reporting a second-quarter loss on Saturday. Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications  rallied 6.3%, the most since September 9, after it agreed to buy AFK Sistema’s Indian wireless unit in an all-stock deal that would create a carrier with 118mn subscribers.
The Sensex dropped 3% last week, paring a monthly advance, after global funds bought a net $989mn of Indian equities in October, bringing year-to-date inflows to $4.6bn. Meanwhile, the rupee fell to a one-month low as losses in local stocks deepened and foreign holdings of the nation’s bonds declined.
The rupee weakened 0.5% to 65.5850 a dollar in Mumbai, prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg show. It fell to 65.62 earlier, the lowest level since October 1. The currency declined 0.7% last week as global holdings of bonds dropped Rs8.3bn ($126mn), according to data from the National Security Depository.