Markets continue to trade in red lacking any positive trigger

Choppiness continue to prevail on the street with benchmarks recovering from their intraday lows supported by some buying interest in the blue-chips but still remaining in red. Though, Nifty was once again above the 8600 level but it had tested the crucial 8575 levels. Market movement was muted tailing the sluggishness in the other regional bourses with no positive triggers on the domestic front to support. Also, the Indian rupee depreciated against the US dollar on fresh demand for the American currency from importers, after posting good gains in last couple of sessions. Allmost all the sectoral indices were trading in red on the BSE barring IT and Tech which have strengthened on some rupee weakness. The metal stocks too were in somber mood, as the Rajya Sabha will take up Mines and Minerals, Coal Bills later today. Opposition led by Congress forced deferment of consideration of the contentious Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, in the Rajya Sabha till Friday.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28352.57, down by 117.10 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 28307.97 and 28484.36. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.77%, while Small cap index slumped by 1.19%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.54%, TECK up by 0.41%, while Realty down by 2.17%, Power down by 1.73%, PSU down by 1.35%, Consumer Durables down by 1.23%, FMCG down by 1.10% were the major losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.48%, Infosys up by 0.79%, HDFC Bank up by 0.36%, TCS up by 0.33% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.29%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 6.54%, GAIL India down by 2.82%, ICICI Bank down by 1.82%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.37% and Tata Motors down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the home grown ratings agency, Care Ratings has warned that consumers will have to bear the brunt of ongoing aggressive bidding for telecom spectrum, which would force mobile operators to hike tariff. Bids topped Rs 1,08,000 crore on the 13 days, much more than the amount realised from the last auction in 2010 and considerably higher from the government's reserve price of Rs 82,000 crore, with 89 per cent of 2G and 3G radiowaves put on sale provisionally allocated to telecom operators.

The rating agency has said that the ongoing auction would result in more pressure on the companies' debt profile, which is already under pressure, “We expect that operators will further leverage themselves, while customers would have to bear the brunt of tariff hikes which would become inevitable for operators to realise returns on these huge investments.”

CARE has further noted that companies are required to pay 25-33% upfront on their winning bids, which would accrue in revenues of Rs 25,000 crore for the government within this fiscal, ending March 31. It said that given these circumstances, tariff hikes are 'inevitable', adding that moves by third party applications to offer voice service, which contributes the maximum revenue for telcos, is also a threat. Recently, WhatsApp, the most popular instant messaging service used worldwide, has started rolling out the voice calling feature to its users.

A significant percentage of revenues for players are at stake due to impending expiry of spectrum, resulting in buying spectrum to ensure continuity of business. Licences for Idea Cellular’s 9 circles, Airtel’s 6 circles and 7 circles each of Vodafone and RCom are up for renewal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8591.45, down by 43.20 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 8575.15 and 8627.90. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 2.51%, Infosys up by 0.84%, Cairn India up by 0.79%, Indusind Bank up by 0.52% and TCS up by 0.34%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 6.30%, BPCL down by 2.83%, GAIL India down by 2.80%, Asian Paints down by 2.37% and ICICI Bank down by 1.88% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing mixed trend, Taiwan Weighted was up by 12.96 points or 0.13% to 9,749.69; Straits Times gained 23.52 points or 0.69% to 3,409.68, Shanghai Composite surged by 38 points or 1.06% to 3,620.27 and Nikkei 225 added 83.66 points or 0.43% to 19,560.22.

On the other hand, Hang Seng lost 42.7 points or 0.17% to 24,426.19, Jakarta Composite declined by 21.34 points or 0.39% to 5,432.52, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI lost 8.03 points or 0.44% to 1,801.10 and KOSPI Index was modestly lower by 0.65 points or 0.03% to 2,037.24.