Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, amid buying in frontline bluechip counters. Sentiments remained positive as S&P Global Market Intelligence said Asia-Pacific region, which produces 35 per cent of the world GDP, is expected to dominate global economic growth in 2023, supported by regional free-trade agreements, efficient supply chains, and competitive costs. It also said Southeast Asia and India will benefit from trade diversification away from mainland China. Traders also took a note of China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) in its latest data has showed that India and China bilateral trade continued to boom, crossing $100 billion for the second year in the first nine months of 2022 while India's trade deficit climbed to over $75 billion. However, gains remain capped as formal job creation in India slowed down in August after remaining buoyant for the last four months across the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation and the National Pension Scheme.
On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as U.S. Treasury yields continued to retreat on expectations that the Federal Reserve will start pivoting soon. A pivot could include a complete pause on interest rates or a gradual reduction on the size of rate hikes. Back home, telecom stocks remained in watch as Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the telecom companies must raise the 5G towers installation per week to at least 10,000 per week from the current 2,500 per week. Around 8,000 towers is ready to help telcos scale the 5G infrastructure, however, the speed of 5G roll-out needs to be maintained.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59827.85, up by 283.89 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 59744.55 and 59959.94. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.89%, Realty up by 1.15%, Consumer Durables up by 1.00%, Utilities up by 0.86% and Power up by 0.86%, while IT down by 0.29% and TECK down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.36%, Titan Company up by 2.27%, Sun Pharma up by 1.99%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.41% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.38%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.04%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.91%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.27% and HCL Technologies down by 0.25% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the government unveiled new policy reforms for satellite communications services to ease procedures and streamline clearance processes and nudged the telecom industry to substantially speed up the deployment of 5G towers. Vaishnaw stated that the current pace of tower deployment at only 2,500 per week for 5G is 'very less' and needs to be increased to at least 10,000 per week.
He pulled up the telecom industry for the slow deployment of 5G towers, saying the government has done its bit in ushering in sectoral reforms, and it is now up to the industry to step up and do its bit in enabling faster 5G roll out. However, he stopped short of spelling out what the repercussions will be for those companies not heeding the government's call to speed up 5G tower deployment.
Besides, on reforms, he said that for 5G antenna to be deployed on street furniture, SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocation) clearance will not be required now, and the process has been made online. Some of the Satcom-related procedural reforms include permissions to mount VSAT terminals on any mobile vehicle thus doing away with current 'cumbersome processes', self-certification of antennas, and streamlining the NOCC process with a simplified procedure that would reduce the timelines from 8 months at present to 6 weeks.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17738.85, up by 82.50 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 17718.20 and 17783.90. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 4.29%, Hindalco up by 3.43%, Tata Steel up by 3.36%, Titan Co up by 2.06% and Sun Pharma up by 1.86%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.18%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.04%, Eicher Motors down by 0.83%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.81% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.35% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 266.89 points or 1.74% to 15,584.56, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 182.79 points or 1.44% to 12,911.84, KOSPI rose 37.04 points or 1.65% to 2,286.60 and Jakarta Composite soared 29.38 points or 0.42% to 7,073.32.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 2.08 points or 0.07% to 2,997.42, Straits Times trembled 5.58 points or 0.19% to 3,002.80 and Nikkei 225 slipped 43.21 points or 0.16% to 27,388.63.
