Mphasis Ltd.

Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply in late morning deals, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices were too trading in red terrain in late morning session. Traders got worried, as apex exporters body FIEO has expressed concerns over freezing of bank accounts of some exporters by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) without giving any warning, hearing or reasons, and has sought Commerce Ministry's intervention in the matter. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf said freezing of bank accounts without any investigation is against the principles of natural justice and is causing irreparable damage to exporters.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after industrial output in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 8.0 percent on month in July. That beat forecasts for a gain of 5.8 percent and was up from 1.9 percent in June. On a yearly basis, industrial production sank 16.1 percent - missing forecasts for a decline of 15.0 percent after tumbling 18.2 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39291.63, down by 175.68 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 39111.05 and 40010.17. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.63%, while Small cap index was down by 4.24%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Energy up by 0.52%, while Healthcare down by 3.17%, Basic Materials down by 3.06%, Realty down by 3.00%, Industrials down by 2.81% and Capital Goods down by 2.81% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.24%, HDFC Bank up by 1.15%, Reliance Industries up by 0.87%, Infosys up by 0.48% and HDFC up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.35%, Indusind Bank down by 3.60%, SBI down by 3.07%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.64% and Bajaj Finserv down by 2.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has said that telecom industry's revenues are expected to rise 14-15 per cent in the current financial year led by some improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU), though the subscriber base may remain flat with rural growth offsetting SIM consolidation in urban locations. The newly appointed Director General of COAI S P Kochhar said that any duopoly situation in the current three-player private telcos market can ‘never be a good thing’ and asserted that sufficient competition among the operators is required for ensuring that subscribers get good services at better prices.

Kochhar said that industry's financial distress is ‘evident’ and that the COAI will continue to push for relief including reduction in spectrum usage charges (SUC) and licence fee; and exemption of GST on licence fee and SUC, as well as on payment of spectrum acquired in auctions. He said it is in the interest of the country that duopoly does not come in and ‘we have more competition, so better services at better prices can be offered to subscribers’.

He said ‘We also expect the subscriber base to remain flat in this fiscal, and the rural subscribers will grow to offset the SIM consolidation in urban geographies’. He added that ‘Data consumption per user per month will move higher from 12 GB to 15 GB by next year, and there will be increase in ARPU this fiscal but whether that will be significant increase or not is something we will have to see’. However, he noted that the association has not received any indication as yet from its members companies on tariff hike.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11595.25, down by 52.35 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 11528.95 and 11794.25. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.80%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.08%, Wipro up by 1.82%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.42% and HDFC Bank up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.57%, Sun Pharma down by 4.09%, Zee Entertainment down by 3.41%, Eicher Motors down by 3.01% and JSW Steel down by 2.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 345.59 points or 1.36% to 25,767.65, Nikkei 225 surged 380.70 points or 1.66% to 23,263.35, Straits Times advanced 9.41 points or 0.37% to 2,549.04 and Shanghai Composite gained 27.07 points or 0.8% to 3,430.88. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 22.24 points or 0.94% to 2,331.56, Jakarta Composite lost 7.14 points or 0.13% to 5,339.52 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 62.40 points or 0.49% to 12,666.45.