Indian bourses trade marginally lower in noon deals

In an extremely range-bound session of trade, Indian equity indices altering between positive and negative territory, were now trading flat with bit of negative bias, as selling appeared in Auto, Consumer Durables and Banking stocks. Traders remained concerned with the details of the minutes of the MPC meeting held on December 5 and 6 released by the RBI, where RBI Governor Urjit Patel flagged concerns over rising global oil prices and uncertainties on fiscal and external fronts. However, losses were limited as some support came with the report that the Union Cabinet has approved the Consumer Protection Bill, 2017, paving the way for its introduction in Parliament. The Bill enforces consumer rights and provides a mechanism for redressal of complaints regarding defect in goods and deficiency in services. Broader indices were holding up their fort in green with gains in the range of 0.60%-0.85%. In scrip specific development, Gayatri Projects was up by over half a percent on securing Rs 1339 crore contract in joint venture with Public Joint Stock Company Kyivmetrobud i.e Gayatri-KMB (JV), from National Highways Authority of India.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after the final congressional approval of a sweeping US tax revamp. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33755.15, down by 22.23 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 33740.38 and 33860.99. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.83%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.56%, Industrials up by 1.00%, Power up by 0.90%, Healthcare up by 0.87% and Utilities up by 0.77%, while Auto down by 0.49%, Consumer Durables down by 0.24%, Bankex down by 0.24%, FMCG down by 0.20% and Consumer Disc down by 0.00% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.25%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.39%, Sun Pharma up by 0.92%, NTPC up by 0.84% and Tata Steel up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.36%, Axis Bank down by 0.87%, Infosys down by 0.86%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.84% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Communication Minister Manoj Sinha stated that over 7,400 megahertz (Mhz) of spectrum is available with the government for telecom services, of which over 80 percent is in two new spectrum bands identified for mobile telephony. As per the recent reports,770 Mhz specturm is avaialble in 700 Mhz premium band, 275 Mhz in 2100 Mhz band, 58.75 Mhz in 800 Mhz band,46.8 Mhz in 1800 Mhz band 15.6 Mhz in 900 Mhz band. Besides, he said that the government has identified two more bands, 3300-3400 Mhz and 3400-3600 Mhz, for telecom services and only 6050Mhz of the spectrum is available in 3300-3400MHz bands.

However, the Minister has said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering to auction 100 Mhz in the 3300-3400 MHz band and 175 Mhz in 3425-3600 Mhz spectrum band. He also said that the government has already sought recommendations from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the applicable Reserve Price and related issues for auction of right to use of spectrum above 3000 MHz (3300-3400 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz) besides frequency bands 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz. Talking on the use of radiowaves for 5G services, he said that the standardisation for 5G technology is expected to be completed around 2020 after which the frequency bands, already auctioned, can be utilised for its deployment.

Besides, the DoT had put 2,354.55 Mhz of spectrum for auction in 2016 across seven bands at a cumulative base price of Rs 5.6 lakh crore. Out of this, bids worth Rs Rs 65,789 crore were received for 964.8 Mhz spectrum. The spectrum in 700 Mhz was put for auction in 2016 but it could not find any taker at price of over Rs 11,000 crore per Mhz fixed by the government. It is considered to be most suitable spectrum for 4G services. The spectrum in 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz were earlier used for 2G services but now telecom operators are providing 4G services using these frequencies. Radiowaves in 900 and 2100 Mhz band are being used for 2G and 3G services but gradually telecom operators are shifting their services to 4G in these bands.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10443.00, down by 1.20 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 10436.60 and 10473.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.37%, HCL Tech. up by 1.70%, Hindalco up by 1.26%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.16% and NTPC up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.36%, Infosys down by 1.26%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.96%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.85% and Axis Bank down by 0.79% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.46 points or 0.03% to 1,747.09, Shanghai Composite was up by 17.26 points or 0.52% to 3,304.86, Jakarta Composite rose 62.34 points or 1.02% to 6,171.82 and Hang Seng added 157.36 points or 0.54% to 29,391.45. On the flip side, KOSPI Index dipped 42.54 points or 1.72% to 2,429.83, Nikkei 225 was down by 25.62 points or 0.11% to 22,866.10 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 15.55 points or 0.15% to 10,488.97.