Key benchmark indices maintain the gains in noon trade

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in positive territory in the noon session following positive cues from the global markets. Sentiments got some support with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the Goods and Services Tax law will boost domestic demand, create more opportunities for domestic business and drive job creation. However, market participants remained cautious with the report that Private equity investments declined 53 per cent to touch $2.5 billion during July-September this year, lowest in the last nine quarters, largely owing to absence of big ticket deals. According to the report, there were 241 PE transactions worth $2,538 million in the September quarter this year, while there were 303 deals worth $5,446 million in the corresponding period last year. The decline in PE activity is also due to the reduced investment in the new economy companies in comparison to the previous year when such investments were in full swing. Traders were seen piling up positions in banking, PSU, Realty, Oil & Gas and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Metal sector stocks.  In scrip specific development, HCL Technologies was down by 2 percent on reports that it is aggressively looking at acquisition opportunities to drive future growth.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading with muted gains, following the lackluster lead from Wall Street and ahead of the release of major corporate earnings results this week, while the dollar hit a near nine-month high as comments from a Federal Reserve official boosted bets of a rate hike by year-end.

Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28166.77, up by 89.59 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 28075.95 and 28192.20. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index was higher by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.86%, PSU up by 0.79%, Realty up by 0.76%, Oil & Gas up by 0.73% and Auto up by 0.64%, while IT down by 0.93%, TECK down by 0.87%, Consumer Durables down by 0.20%, Capital Goods down by 0.09% and Metal down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.77%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.57%, SBI up by 2.21%, Lupin up by 1.74% and GAIL India up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.40%, Asian Paints down by 1.74%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.02%, Axis Bank down by 0.80% and Infosys down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has suggested imposing Rs 3,050 crore penalty on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, for allegedly denying inter-connectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio. The regulator has also recommended the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to take action against these three telecom operators.

Noting that denial of interconnection by these operators to RJio appears to be with the ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti-consumer, it said that it has found the trio to be non-compliant with licence conditions and service quality norms given the high rate of call failures and congestion at interconnect points for RJio.

Trai has recommended a penalty of Rs 50 crore per circle for 21 service areas, except Jammu & Kashmir, for Airtel and Vodafone, where the point of interconnect (PoI) congestion exceeded the permissible limit of 0.5 per cent. For Idea Cellular, the penalty has been suggested for 19 circles, except Himachal Pradesh, J&K and North East. The penalty for Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it is about Rs 950 crore. Since, Trai does not have powers to levy fines; it has recommended the DoT to levy the same in its capacity as the licensor since these companies have violated their licence conditions.

Trai has recommended that DoT take action against each of the three carriers, saying that violation of licence norms warranted revocation of their permits.  The DoT now needs to decide on the next course of action. If DoT finds violations in all the circles, as mentioned by Trai, the telcos would have to cough up a combined penalty of Rs 3,050 crore.  Since September 30, Trai has been monitoring congestion levels on a daily basis and found that the situation has not improved.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8705.45, up by 12.40 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8684.15 and 8723.05. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.85% and Adani Ports &Special up by 2.64% and Bank of Baroda up by 2.24% and SBI up by 2.17% and BPCL up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.44%, HCL Tech. down by 2.65%, Asian Paints down by 1.86%, Idea Cellular down by 1.81% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.62% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.44 points or 0.33% to 1,675.42, KOSPI Index increased 14.74 points or 0.73% to 2,047.74, Taiwan Weighted increased 15.93 points or 0.17% to 9,322.50, Jakarta Composite increased 19.73 points or 0.36% to 5,428.97, Shanghai Composite increased 36.23 points or 1.17% to 3,127.18, Nikkei 225 increased 49.83 points or 0.29% to 17,234.42 and Hang Seng increased 152.09 points or 0.65% to 23,526.49.