Sensex, Nifty enter into red territory in noon deals

Indian equities erased their early gains and entered into red territory in early afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments turned pessimistic with the domestic rating agency, Crisil lowered its growth forecast to 7 per cent for fiscal 2018, down from 7.4 per cent earlier, as it sees disruptions arising from the implementation of the new uniform tax regime to continue to impact the economy for a few more quarters. Further, subdued trend in Asian markets and selling witnessed in Telecom, TECK and Healthcare stocks, too weighed on the sentiments. However, losses were limited as some support came with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement at BRICS Summit 2017 that India is fast changing into one of the most open economies in the world, with improvements on global indices and the biggest ever reform GST weaving the nation into one unified market. Meanwhile, the rupee dropped by 6 paise to 64.11 against the dollar in early trade at the forex market amid sustained foreign fund outflows. In scrip specific development, IRB Infrastructure Developers was up by around a percent with its arm commencing work on Udaipur-Rajasthan/Gujarat highway project.

On the flip side, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as simmering tensions on the Korean Peninsula continued to hurt sentiment. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31676.88, down by 25.37 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 31676.71 and 31819.99. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.02%, while Small cap index up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.41%, Realty up by 0.56%, Consumer Disc up by 0.38%, Basic Materials up by 0.35% and Energy up by 0.25%, while Telecom down by 2.98%, TECK down by 0.61%, Healthcare down by 0.20%, Metal down by 0.15% and IT down by 0.14% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.15%, Reliance Industries up by 0.69%, Asian Paints up by 0.63%, Tata Steel up by 0.46% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.43%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.17%, Sun Pharma down by 1.14%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.87%, Lupin down by 0.77% and Cipla down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan has said that the new telecom policy (NTP) will comprise a package to boost domestic manufacturing of equipment to reduce import dependence and create local employment. She said that work on the policy blueprint is expected to start after the meeting of the Telecom Commission -- the highest decision making body for the telecommunications sector. She added that the NTP roadmap will be placed before the inter- ministerial panel. To begin with, she noted that the policy draft will be placed in public domain for wider consultations by December or January.

To reduce dependency on telecom import, Sundararajan said that there is need to encourage local telecom companies to not just make for India but also for overseas markets like Middle East Asia and Africa. She also said that it will have to be enabling environment which can catalyse on make in India and added that they will be strengthening the preferential market access policy. Adding further, she said that the NTP will look at incorporating provisions to encourage incorporating of product designs developed in the country. She mentioned that the government also wants to support growth of international companies who have set-up manufacturing facilities.

Talking about connectivity push under the NTP, Telecom Secretary said that the government will focus on connecting around 40,000 villages and increase availability of regular internet access facility from 30 crore people to 70 crore by 2022. Besides, she noted that the NTP will focus to encourage creation of 2.5-3 lakh jobs in the telecom sector over period of next 5 years. In addition, the Department of Telecom will also hold regional consultations for framing up the new policy and has also created working groups to start consultation process.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9907.05, down by 5.80 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 9902.35 and 9948.90. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.50%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.37%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.12%, Ambuja Cement up by 0.98% and Bank of Baroda up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.20%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.22%, Sun Pharma down by 1.22%, HCL Tech. down by 1.12% and Lupin down by 0.98% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 122.44 points or 0.63% to 19,385.81, Hang Seng dipped 19.52 points or 0.07% to 27,720.74, Jakarta Composite was down by 18.21 points or 0.31% to 5,795.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 6.34 points or 0.36% to 1,766.82 and KOSPI Index dipped 3.03 points or 0.13% to 2,326.62.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 5.5 points or 0.16% to 3,385.09 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 47.97 points or 0.45% to 10,617.84.