Markets continue to trade in a tight range

Markets showing their cautious trend were marginally in red in late morning trade, the early euphoria after being sold off in morning does not seem to be returning soon and both the major averages were moving in a tight range. The cautiousness was emanating from the global markets, where a report that ECB would probably wind down its $90-billion monthly bond purchases, led to fall in US markets and later the Asian markets. Back home, there was some cautiousness with a World Bank research predicting that the proportion of jobs threatened in India by automation is 69 per cent and in China it is 77 per cent. The rate sensitive’s that led the early rally after lenders promised to swiftly pass on the 0.25 per cent rate cut effected by RBI to borrowers, a move that would lower interest rates on home, auto and corporate loans, have started witnessing profit taking and the banking pack was down in red, though the realty and auto were still moving higher. The telecom space too was buzzing with reports that bids worth Rs 60,969 crore have come for around 900 Mhz of spectrum out of 2,354.55 Mhz put for auction at the end of 17th round. In non sectoral gauge, the steel stocks were witnessing some buying interest after the government in order to protect domestic industries from cheap imports, again extended the minimum import price (MIP) on 66 steel products for a period of two months.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28299.59, down by 34.96 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 28231.96 and 28477.65. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming and trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.20%, while Small cap index gained 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.05%, Metal up by 0.69%, FMCG up by 0.33%, Power up by 0.28%, Auto up by 0.23%, while IT down by 0.67%, TECK down by 0.44%, Oil & Gas down by 0.39%, Bankex down by 0.35%, Consumer Durables down by 0.19% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.07%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.40%, SBI up by 1.29%, Tata Motors up by 1.08% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.93%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.26%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.05%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.99%, Wipro down by 0.91% and Axis Bank down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s biggest auction of telecom spectrum, which started on Saturday with seven operators in fray for a total of 2,354.55 MHz across seven bands, received bids of Rs 59,981 crore at the end of third day of bidding. This is Rs 3,100 crore more than what it clocked on the second day i.e. October 3 and Rs 6450 crore higher from the first day of spectrum auction.

Reportedly bids worth Rs 59,981 crore come for around 750 Mhz of spectrum at the end of 17th round. Even after three days of auction there was no demand yet for frequencies in the expensive 700 MHz bands, while bidding interest continued largely around 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz that can be used by operators to provide 4G services. The 900 MHz spectrum also didn’t receive any bid till now.

The second day of the mega telecom spectrum auctions fetched Rs 56,792 crore, up Rs 3,231 crore as compared to Rs 53,531 crore on the first day. The bidding had closed with a cumulative 11 rounds. The total bid value is still well short of the Rs 1.09 lakh crore netted by the government in 2015. The auction raised Rs 61,162 crore in 2014.

The finance ministry in the Budget pegged the revenue target at Rs 98,995 crore from the telecom space. This included Rs 64,000 crore from the auction. The premium 700 MHz band alone has the potential to fetch bids worth over Rs 4 lakh crore if the entire spectrum in this band is sold at the base price. The radiowaves can be used for 2G, 3G and high-speed 4G services. Seven telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Aircel had qualified for participating in the spectrum sale.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8755.00, down by 14.15 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 8733.95 and 8806.95. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.76%, Asian Paints up by 2.18%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.40%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.35% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.34%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 1.20%, ONGC down by 1.17%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.15%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.10% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.99% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing a mixed trend, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 2.41 points or 0.15% to 1,663.66, Hang Seng was up by 84.36 points or 0.36% to 23,773.80 and Nikkei 225 surged by 85.81 points or 0.51% to 16,821.46.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite declined by 68.56 points or 1.25% to 5,403.76, Taiwan Weighted lost 22.49 points or 0.24% to 9,265.28 and KOSPI Index decreased by 2.15 points or 0.1% to 2,052.71.