Barometer gauges maintain gains in early noon deals

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the early noon session amid investors looked ahead to the Union Budget for further cues. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Bharti Airtel, Indusind Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Investors will keep a watch on presentation of the Economic Survey in Parliament. The Economic Survey will show the situation of the country's economy and its several segments and talk about the issues it may face in future. Traders’ mood remained up-beat as the Union Cabinet has approved the Code on Wages Bill which seeks to subsume existing laws related to workers remuneration and enable the Centre to fix minimum wages for the entire country. Sentiments also got a boost with commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India will get additional $217 million of revenue from the retaliatory tariffs it imposed on 28 American products. Meanwhile, a private report stated that the Indian companies supplying US-made technology components to Chinese telecom firm Huawei Technologies may face penalties under US regulations.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as tracking sharp gains on Wall Street as recent data from multiple sectors pointed to slowing economic growth in the United States, bolstering the prospect of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Back on street, shares of IndiaMART InterMESH (IML) made a strong debut on the bourses, by listing at Rs 1,180, 21 per cent higher against its issue price of Rs 973 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39944.05, up by 104.80 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 39858.33 and 39976.53. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.90%, Realty up by 1.26%, Bankex up by 0.67%, Basic Materials up by 0.54% and PSU was up by 0.38%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.31%, Metal down by 0.52%, Utilities down by 0.22%, Healthcare down by 0.14% and Power was down by 0.07% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.72%, Indusind Bank up by 2.20%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.91%, Yes Bank up by 1.05% and ONGC was up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.64%, HCL Technologies down by 1.23%, Sun Pharma down by 0.87%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.51% and Tech Mahindra was down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Special Secretary Yaduvendra Mathur has said that telecom operators should be financially sound to build up infrastructure. He also highlighted a need to review the auction architecture as they cannot pay high prices for spectrum. He added that the government wants access to real time data in decision making which can be done by installing internet of things (IoT) devices supported by public wi-fi.

Mathur has stated that telecom players should set up public wi-fi but for that they also need to be financially healthy. He also noted that the government is working on next round of spectrum auction that will comprise radiowaves for 5G services as well. He added that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended the auction of about 8,644 MHz of frequencies across eight signal bands, including in 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 3.3-3.4 gigahertz (Ghz), 3.4-3.6 Ghz etc, at an estimated base price of Rs 4.9 lakh crore.

Mathur said 'I think it is a broader issue which is being looked at on how to maximise utilisation rather than only look at through revenue perspective. Growth is the message that we have from the top.' He noted the government keeps pushing for use of state-of-art technology in the government and those who do not use such technology are required to give an explanation. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11952.95, up by 36.20 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 11923.65 and 11961.30. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 4.13%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.83%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.76%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.06% and Indusind Bank was up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.62%, Titan Company down by 2.34%, HCL Technologies down by 1.22%, Sun Pharma down by 0.94% and Bharti Infratel was down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 8.16 points or 0.39% to 2,104.18, Straits Times advanced 7.25 points or 0.22% to 3,375.05, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 40.40 points or 0.38% to 10,784.17, Jakarta Composite soared 9.93 points or 0.16% to 6,372.55, Nikkei 225 surged 57.14 points or 0.26% to 21,695.30, Hang Seng was up by 8.29 points or 0.03% to 28,863.43. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 4.17 points or 0.14% to 3,011.09.