Bourses continue to trade with hefty gains in early afternoon session

Indian markets continued to trade with hefty gains in early afternoon session despite geopolitical tensions. Investors preferred to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Traders got support as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) private report stated that India rose a position to rank 15 among top global destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2024, despite a marginal dip in inflows at $27.6 billion. The country was ranked 16th in 2023 when it attracted $28.1 billion in FDI. Sector wise, telecom sector remained in limelight as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its latest report has said that telecom operators recorded a 12.44 per cent year-on-year increase in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to Rs 79,226 crore in the quarter ended March 2025. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as People's Bank of China left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after reducing it last month. The central bank maintained its one-year loan prime rate at 3.0 percent. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82037.60, up by 675.73 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 81323.20 and 82186.37. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.50%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.63%, Realty up by 1.55%, Power up by 1.37%, Utilities up by 1.28% and PSU was up by 1.10%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.  

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.43%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.23%, Power Grid up by 1.80%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.56% and SBI up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.51%, Infosys down by 0.23% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its latest report has said that telecom operators recorded a 12.44 per cent year-on-year increase in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to Rs 79,226 crore in the quarter ended March 2025.

TRAI stated that Reliance Jio led the chart with Rs 29,464 crore AGR -- the amount from which the government collects its share as licence fee and spectrum usage charge. Bharti Group followed Jio with an AGR of Rs 26,324 crore, but it recorded the highest growth rate of 25.64 per cent in the segment during the reported quarter on a year-on-year basis. Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea recorded a 3.84 per cent growth in AGR at Rs 7,653.53 crore, while BSNL saw a 12.45 per cent growth at Rs 2,239.54 crore. Tata Teleservices registered a growth of 2.31 per cent at Rs 677 crore and MTNL's AGR declined by 6.04 per cent to Rs 147 crore during the quarter.

As per the Trai's Performance Indicator Report, the gross revenue of telecom service providers increased by 11.74 per cent annually to Rs 98,250 crore in the March 2025 quarter. The rise in telecom service providers' revenue was mainly due to an increase in mobile services rate that took place in July 2024. The move led to an increase of 19.16 per cent in average revenue per user (ARPU) to Rs 182.95 for telcos. The government's collection in the form of licence fee imposed on AGR increased by 12.46 per cent annually to Rs 6,340 crore while spectrum usage charges rose by 15.08 per cent to Rs 1,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25001.45, up by 208.20 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 24783.65 and 25045.00. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JIO Financial up by 2.57%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.27%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.13% and Nestle up by 1.86%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.72%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.54%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.55%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.41% and Infosys down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 85.11 points or 0.22% to 38,403.23, Jakarta Composite plunged 50.4 points or 0.73% to 6,918.24, Shanghai Composite weakened 4.06 points or 0.12% to 3,358.05 and Straits Times was down by 0.62 points or 0.02% to 3,893.56. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted added 42.24 points or 0.19% to 22,045.74, KOSPI increased 44.10 points or 1.46% to 3,021.84 and Hang Seng was up by 189.21 points or 0.81% to 23,426.95.