Volatility continues over Dalal Street

Volatility continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty now trading in red, impacted by selling at Power and FMCG stocks along with negative cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were pessimistic, as the data shared by the ministry of finance shows that the outstanding liabilities of 28 states are projected to rise 43 percent in the three years from March 2020 to March 2023. In all, the outstanding liabilities of all these states are forecasted to reach Rs 75 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year, up from Rs 52 lakh crore in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic had forced a nationwide lockdown in India.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, after Japan's tertiary activity declined in December after rising in the previous two months. The data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry showed that the seasonally adjusted tertiary activity index fell 0.4 percent month-on-month in December, reversing a 0.1 percent rise in November. Among the individual components, information services, transport and postal activities, medical, health care and welfare, living and amusement related services, and manufacturing-dependent business services declined in December.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61012.46, down by 19.80 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 60750.32 and 61109.26. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.49%, Telecom up by 0.33%, Realty up by 0.27%, Consumer Durables up by 0.19% and Energy up by 0.17%, while Power down by 0.92%, FMCG down by 0.89%, Utilities down by 0.88%, Capital Goods down by 0.54% and Industrials down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.15%, Reliance Industries up by 2.02%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.92%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.87% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.80%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.73%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.27%, HDFC down by 1.05%, Sun Pharma down by 0.96% and Power Grid down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to curb call drops and improve call quality, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to make quality of service norms stricter. The move comes after the DoT collected feedback from the public through an IVRS call around call drop, quality of calls etc. Quality of service is very important for customer satisfaction and protection of their interests. DoT has requested Trai for improvement in the present quality of service (QoS) through more stringent parameters. The DoT also observed few key performance indicators while broadly studying global best practices on QoS.

The Trai has called a meeting with telcos on February 17 to discuss measures and action plan for improving service quality, review of norms, benchmarks for 5G services, and unsolicited commercial communications. The move is aimed at improving the telecom service quality and check call drops. It also comes at a time when ultra high speed 5G services are being rolled out across the country.

So far, 5G services have been launched in over 300 cities in India. The next generation of technology that promises turbocharged speeds (about 10 times faster than 4G) and low latency connectivity. Issues around service quality have been in the spotlight over the last few months. The telecom department back in December met operators to discuss rising instances of call drops and service quality-related issues, as it deliberated on policy measures that can be considered for improving call quality.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17929.15, down by 0.70 points after trading in a range of 17853.80 and 17959.30. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.32%, Apollo Hospital up by 4.24%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.24%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.16% and Reliance Industries up by 1.97%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.68%, Britannia down by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.33%, ONGC down by 1.15% and HDFC down by 1.09% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 100.91 points or 0.37% to 27,501.86, Taiwan Weighted lost 221.59 points or 1.44% to 15,432.89, Straits Times fell 35.22 points or 1.06% to 3,282.98, Hang Seng declined 323.7 points or 1.53% to 20,790.06, KOSPI dropped 37.74 points or 1.55% to 2,427.90, Jakarta Composite plunged 50.38 points or 0.73% to 6,891.48 and Shanghai Composite weakened 14.51 points or 0.44% to 3,278.77.