Benchmarks extend losses; Nifty slips below 8700 mark

Key benchmark indices extended losses to continue their weak trade in the afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters despite positive global cues. The losses in FMCG, Auto, Realty and banking stocks also aided to pessimistic milieu. Traders were unable to get any respite with report that the GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed a four-tier rate structure suggested by the Centre and agreed on compensation to loss-incurring states for the first five years of the new tax regime. Jaitley also informed that the GST Council meeting has reached a consensus on definition of revenue to compensate states for revenue loss from GST implementation. In scrip specific development, Sintex industries rose 1.5 percent on news that Prominent Plastics has raised its stake in the company.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street and as data showed that China's economic growth was in line with expectations.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28014.48, down by 36.40 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 27968.08 and 28131.07. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming, trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.97%, Oil & Gas up by 0.93%, PSU up by 0.84%, Consumer Durables up by 0.57% and Metal up by 0.41%, while FMCG down by 0.60%, Auto down by 0.56%, Realty down by 0.45% and Bankex down by 0.30% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.58%, Lupin up by 1.91%, GAIL India up by 1.62%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.58% and Adani Ports &Special up by 1.54%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.83%, ICICI Bank down by 1.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.11%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.99% and Tata Motors down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged the telecom regulator TRAI to postpone review of interconnect usage charges (IUC) till March 2017. The industry body has said that the regulator has initiated various other consultations which depending upon their final outcomes 'may have a significant direct impact on cost structures, changes in technology and other market dynamics’.

TRAI had fixed October 17 as deadline for receiving industry comments on the contentious consultation paper on interconnection usage charges or IUC, which is paid by one telecom operator to another for connecting phone calls. COAI reportedly said that actual network-related costs incurred by telecom operators should be used to compute the interconnect charges, thereby batting for an increase in mobile termination charge.

Telecom operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have sought to defer the review till March 2017. COAI in its latest submission to TRAI said that 'It is therefore critical that the IUC review should not be held at this stage and be deferred by some months, that is, after end March 2017. By such time there will be more clarity on several issues’’. Trai had extended the date for receiving comments on the paper twice.

COAI, in its response pointed out that 'all its member operators support and recommend that mobile termination charge should be determined on the cost based principle, only Reliance Jio has a divergent view that 'Bill and Keep' approach should be adopted for determining the MTC. The mobile termination charge is currently pegged at 14 paise per minute and a cost-based model would imply an increase in termination charges. The cost-based model includes network operating costs, overhead costs, spectrum costs and capital costs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8667.45, down by 10.45 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 8656.80 and 8698.75. There were 30 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 3.30%, Wipro up by 2.14%, Lupin up by 2.02%, Idea Cellular up by 1.99% and GAIL India up by 1.64%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.83%, ICICI Bank down by 1.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.34%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.30% and Tata Motors down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.51 points or 0.02% to 2,040.94, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.14 points or 0.07% to 1,668.71, Nikkei 225 increased 35.3 points or 0.21% to 16,998.91 and Taiwan Weighted increased 61.41 points or 0.67% to 9,283.99. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 62.17 points or 0.27% to 23,332.22, Jakarta Composite decreased 6.3 points or 0.12% to 5,423.75 and Shanghai Composite decreased 6.11 points or 0.2% to 3,077.77.