Bourses turn green in early afternoon session

In volatile trading session, Indian markets once again entered into green territory in early afternoon session as investors awaited India’s consumer price index (CPI) data for July, which going to be out later in a day. Traders took note of report that government is working on measures to boost India's exports, including targeting 50 countries in regions such as the Middle East and Africa, amid the heavy tariffs imposed by the US on Indian goods. These 50 countries account for about 90 per cent of India's exports. Sector wise, agriculture sector remained in limelight as sowing of kharif-season crops increased 4.02% at 995.63 lakh hectares area as on August 8. The total area covered under kharif crops was 957.15 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of last year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors were cautious ahead of U.S. inflation readings that could shape near-term interest rate outlook. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80638.83, up by 34.75 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 80398.23 and 80997.67. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.02%, Oil & Gas up by 0.91%, Metal up by 0.86%, Energy up by 0.72% and IT was up by 0.71%, while Capital Goods down by 0.63%, Realty down by 0.54%, Bankex down by 0.32%, Industrials down by 0.13% and FMCG was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.66%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.12%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.70%, Tata Steel up by 1.35% and NTPC up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.49%, Eternal down by 1.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.92%, Trent down by 0.85% and ICICI Bank down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has said that direct spectrum allocation to enterprises is not tenable in India because of various reasons pertaining to India's telecom ecosystem, the national revenue, as well as security architecture. COAI advocated that all enterprise 5G needs must be fulfilled through licensed Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) through spectrum leasing or network slicing, as this would ensure national security, revenue protection and regulatory balance in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

Noting that some industry bodies have ‘in their own interests’ drawn parallels with countries such as the US, Finland, Germany and the UK, where private networks have been deployed, COAI emphasised that such a comparison ignores a crucial contextual difference of such industries being located in remote or geographically secluded areas with limited public network coverage. It said, in reality, deploying a private 5G network entails significant capital expenditure on equipment, spectrum management, security, network maintenance and skilled personnel. Unlike TSPs, most enterprises do not have the expertise or scale to manage telecom infrastructure efficiently. What appears cheaper on paper could turn out to be more expensive and operationally burdensome in practice. Moreover, with continuous upgrades and evolution of both the technology as well as the ecosystem, there would be a need for continuous upgradation to the network components in the private network, which the telecom operators would be in the most favourable position to know and deploy suitably.

The association is also misleading to claim that telcos would not be technically equipped to provide for the private networks, as with the provisions of 5G, knowledge of the requisite SLAs and the provision of Network Slicing put together, the telcos are in a better position to provide the services along with the knowledge and experience required to run the same on a long-term basis. It further said that radio frequencies cannot be geographically or physically contained and hence, signals from private networks can spill over beyond the intended premises, leading to interference with public mobile networks operated by licensed TSPs, creating risks in network reliability, service quality and user experience on both sides. This could be well managed by a telecom operator.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24617.80, up by 32.75 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 24530.75 and 24702.60. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.64%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.14%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.82%, Tata Steel up by 1.69% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.23%, Grasim Industries down by 1.13%, Eternal down by 0.94%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.77% and HDFC Bank down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 939.52 points or 2.2% to 42,760.00, Jakarta Composite gained 153.7 points or 2.02% to 7,759.62, Taiwan Weighted added 22.86 points or 0.09% to 24,158.36 and Shanghai Composite was up by 18.33 points or 0.5% to 3,665.88. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 10.46 points or 0.25% to 4,222.32, KOSPI dropped 16.86 points or 0.53% to 3,189.91 and Hang Seng was down by 34.81 points or 0.14% to 24,872.00.