Local bourses add some gains in afternoon deals

Adding some gains, Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors despite weakness in other Asian markets. The sentiments were positive with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the growth may have slowed down but the economy will never slip into recession. She added that steps taken by the government post her maiden budget have started bearing fruits and some sectors such as automobiles have shown signs of recovery. However, gains remained capped as anxiety remained among the local traders with Moody's Investors Service stating that rated companies’ credit profiles are unlikely to improve significantly over 2020-2021 due to elevated debt levels, weakening profitability and the continued economic slowdown, which is pressuring both investment and consumption. On the sectoral front, telecom sector remained in focus with Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad indicating that gross revenue of the telecom sector fell about Rs 41,000 crore in three years on account of a dip in mobile services charges. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as concerns that tensions over Hong Kong may stymie a U.S.-China trade deal cast a pall over Thanksgiving cheer from positive U.S. economic data. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41108.25, up by 87.64 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 41022.81 and 41163.79. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.89%, Metal up by 1.38%, Realty up by 0.96%, PSU up by 0.84% and TECK was up by 0.83%, while Auto down by 0.39%, Utilities down by 0.14%, Power down by 0.11%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.04% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.45%, Yes Bank up by 2.34%, Tata Steel up by 2.11%, SBI up by 1.78% and TCS was up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.55%, Tata Motors down by 0.81%, Vedanta down by 0.78%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.67% and ONGC was down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that gross revenue of the telecom sector fell about Rs 41,000 crore in three years on account of a dip in mobile services charges. He also said that the sector’s gross revenue was Rs 2.65 lakh crore in 2016-17, which had reduced to Rs 2.46 lakh crore a year later and then to Rs 2.24 lakh crore in 2018-19. 

Prasad has stated that telecom service providers (TSPs) have revised their tariff downwards due to fierce competition in the telecom sector over the recent years. As a result, he said gross revenue (GR) and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of all TSPs have dropped for last three financial years. He noted that AGR, on which the government earns revenue, also declined by around Rs 46,000 crore. He indicated that AGR declined from Rs 1.85 lakh crore in 2016-17 to Rs 1.5 lakh crore a year later and Rs 1.39 lakh crore in 2018-19. Accordingly, licence fee, which is 8 percent of AGR, and spectrum usage charges, which are 3 to 5 percent of AGR, have also decreased. 

The minister further said that to remain competitive in the market, BSNL has also reduced tariff and the same has been reflected in the financial statements. He pointed out that despite increase in the subscriber base, revenue earned from mobile services has declined in the last three years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12134.85, up by 34.15 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 12099.95 and 12144.40. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining, 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 8.97%, UPL up by 4.56%, JSW Steel up by 3.30%, ICICI Bank up by 2.51% and Yes Bank was up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 2.05%, Tata Motors down by 0.90%, ONGC down by 0.75%, Vedanta down by 0.68% and Axis Bank was down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 30.38 points or 0.26% to 11,617.08, Nikkei 225 slipped 28.63 points or 0.12% to 23,409.14, KOSPI fell 9.25 points or 0.43% to 2,118.60, Jakarta Composite lost 20.12 points or 0.33% to 6,002.92, Straits Times trembled 11.99 points or 0.37% to 3,203.54, Shanghai Composite declined 17.90 points or 0.62% to 2,885.29 and Hang Seng was down by 43.00 points or 0.16% to 26,911.00.