The transportation company reported a 21.4 per cent on-year growth in revenue from operations to Rs 1,823.9 crore, which was also below Street’s estimate.

“We priced our vaccine in conjunction with the government. Most of it was at Rs 200 which the government was buying it for. We hardly sold anything in the private market because as everyone was getting it for free, no one wanted to pay for it. ”

The company reported a consolidated profit of Rs 605 crore for the quarter compared to Rs 852 crore last year. Revenue grew to Rs 7,096 crore compared to Rs 5,350 crore a year ago. The stock of Asian Paints dipped 6.33 per cent to Rs 2,968 on the BSE as of 2:30 pm Thursday.

The Nifty Pharma index closed 0.05 per cent down at 14169.95.

Mazhar Mohammad of Chartviewindia.in said if the index breaches 18,040 level on Friday, the chance of it heading towards its 20-day moving average of 17,950 remains high.

The Nifty Realty index was trading 0.47 per cent down at 502.6.

“We need to be a little careful right now and need to be a little cautious. Over the last 10-11 months, not only in India, but in Asia and globally, the earnings momentum which helps stock prices or the earnings upgrade cycle which help the stock prices probably are showing signs of pausing over the next few quarters and one of the main reasons is the cost inflation side. ”

After starting on the green, benchmark indices slid over 1 per cent each at one point during the session. The Nifty50 index closed 0.5 per cent lower at 18,178.1 points breaking the strong support of 18,200 points. The BSE-Sensex closed at 60,923.50, down 0.6 per cent.

“Gross margin pressure and strong volume is the outlook for the next one or two quarters for Asian Paints.”

The spot price of the yellow metal has gained about Rs 900 per 10 gram in the last two weeks, whereas silver has jumped about Rs 3,600 per kg during the period under review.