Markets extend gains; Sensex regains 28200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in the late afternoon session led by oil & gas, PSU and bank stocks amid firm European cues. Sentiments remained upbeat with the private report stating that there is room for a 50 basis point rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India over the next few months with 25 bps each likely in February and April. Some support also came with the Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal’s statement that country’s economy will grow 8 percent this fiscal, while agricultural growth is expected to be over 4 percent. On the sectoral front, telecom stock were trading in red after the 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.

On the global front, European stocks were trading higher, as investors focused on fresh economic data and corporate earnings. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28226.89, up by 149.71 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 28075.95 and 28256.65. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.64%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.90%, PSU up by 1.71%, Bankex up by 0.91%, Auto up by 0.64%, Realty up by 0.43%, while IT down by 0.83%, TECK down by 0.76%, Consumer Durables down by 0.24%, Capital Goods down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.52%, ICICI Bank up by 2.74%, Lupin up by 2.34%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.33% and SBI up by 2.28%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.22%, Asian Paints down by 1.54%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.94%, Axis Bank down by 0.81% and Infosys down by 0.76% 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 8732.20, up by 39.15 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 8684.15 and 8736.95. There were 29 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 4.50%, ICICI Bank up by 2.88%, BPCL up by 2.51%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.50% and Lupin up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.19%, HCL Tech. down by 2.46%, Idea Cellular down by 1.75%, Asian Paints down by 1.60% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.29 points or 0.38% to 1,676.27, 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 16.08 points or 0.3% to 5,425.32, Shanghai Composite increased 37.31 points or 1.21% to 3,128.25, Nikkei 225 increased 49.83 points or 0.29% to 17,234.42 and Hang Seng increased 229.68 points or 0.98% to 23,604.08.

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 22.81 points or 0.32% to 7,043.28, France’s CAC jumped 33.55 points or 0.74% to 4,569.62 and Germany’s DAX surged 88.04 points or 0.82% to 10,798.77.