Bourses hold gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity indices were holding their strong gains in late afternoon session, on the back of firm opening of European markets. Traders were taking encouragement with a private report stating that the Indian economy is expected to start its recovery from later part of this fiscal thanks to the initiatives taken by the Reserve Bank for policy rate transmission and steps by the government to boost growth. Some support also came after the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in its latest payroll data report showed that around 14.24 lakh jobs were created in July 2019, higher than 12.49 lakh in the previous month.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as German consumer sentiment is set to improve in October as stimulus measures announced by the European Central Bank boosted the propensity to buy. The survey data from market research group GfK showed that the forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to 9.9 in October from 9.7 in September. The score was forecast to drop to 9.6. Asian markets were also trading in green.

Back home, telecom sector stocks were in watch, after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, (TRAI) in its latest report said that gross revenue of telecom operators fell 7.13 per cent to Rs 2,37,417 crore in 2018 from Rs 2,55,655 crore in 2017, while licence fee and spectrum charges that the government collects from them slipped 10.29 per cent and 17.7 per cent, respectively, during the year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39039.02, up by 445.50 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 38676.11 and 39158.07. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.39%, Auto up by 2.66%, Oil & Gas up by 2.47%, PSU up by 2.30% and Realty up by 2.07%, while IT down by 0.38% and TECK down by 0.09% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 5.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 5.23%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.67%, ICICI Bank up by 3.48% and ONGC up by 3.04%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.47%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.82%, Infosys down by 0.81%, HCL Tech. down by 0.34% and TCS down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, indicating weaker financial health, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, (TRAI) in its latest report said that gross revenue of telecom operators fell 7.13 per cent to Rs 2,37,417 crore in 2018 from Rs 2,55,655 crore in 2017, while licence fee and spectrum charges that the government collects from them slipped 10.29 per cent and 17.7 per cent, respectively, during the year.

As per the regulatory body, the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) earned by companies from sale of telecom services also decreased  over 10 per cent to Rs 1,44,446 crore during 2018 from Rs 1,60,814 crore in 2017. Besides, the report noted that spectrum usage charges (SUC) was 17.74 per cent lower at Rs 4,186 crore in 2018.

TRAI further showed that access services contributed 71.19 per cent of the total AGR of telecom services. In access services, GR, AGR, license fee and spectrum usage charges (SUC) declined by 8.88 per cent, 16.13 per cent, 16.20 per cent and 17.82 per cent, respectively, in 2018 over 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11577.25, up by 137.05 points or 1.20% after trading in a range of 11466.35 and 11610.85. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 5.70%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 5.17%, Zee Entertainment up by 5.14%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.66% and ICICI Bank up by 3.64%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.66%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.29%, Infosys down by 0.93%, TCS down by 0.40% and HCL Tech. down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite soared 48.40 points or 0.79% to 6,194.80, Nikkei 225 surged 28.09 points or 0.13% to 22,048.24, Straits Times advanced 4.59 points or 0.15% to 3,130.41, Hang Seng increased 4.13 points or 0.02% to 25,949.48 and KOSPI was up by 1.13 points or 0.05% to 2,074.52. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.70 points or 0.02% to 10,871.99 and Shanghai Composite was down by19.19 points or 0.65% to 2,936.24.

All European markets were trading in green; CAC gained 45.12 points or 0.81% to 5,628.92, DAX surged 72.25 points or 0.59% to 12,306.43 and FTSE was up by 76.41 points or 1.05% to 7,366.40.