Telecom shares gain in a weak market; Bharti Airtel up 2%

Telecom shares were among the top gainers while financial shares witnessed profit taking after recent gains

Telecom shares continued to trade firm in an otherwise weak market amid reports that Reliance Jio may delay its launch of 4G service while Moody's report on the Bharti-Videocon deal also boosted sentiment.

At 1:10pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 104 points at 25,226 and the Nifty50 dipped 28 points to 7,687.

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Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continued to remain buyers in Indian equities with net purchases of Rs 1,095 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The rupee was trading weak against the US dollar by 12 paise at 66.83 compared to the previous close tracking weakness in equities and dollar strength against overseas currencies.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Oil&Gas index was the top loser down 1.2% followed by Consumer Durables and Bankex among others. BSE Metal index was the top gainer up 1.1% followed by Auto.

Bharti Airtel was up 2%. Moody's Investor Service, the ratings agency, on Tuesday said Bharti's recently announced deals (African tower sale agreement with ATC and spectrum trading pact with Videcon) are credit positive.

Further, delay in launch by Reliance Jio also aided sentiment for the sector. Idea Cellular was up over 2% while Reliance Communications was up 0.5%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries is down nearly 2%. Reliance Jio might delay the launch of its much-awaited mobile broadband service (4G) to the end of this year.

Weakness in global crude oil prices weighed on oil explorers. ONGC, Cairn India and Oil India were down 0.6%-1.5% each.

Mahindra & Mahindra was marginally down. The group on Tuesday announced its entry in the branded dairy products business on Tuesday.

Maruti Suzuki was marginally up. The passenger car major announced that it has received 20,000 bookings within the launch of compact SUV Vitara Brezza. It plans to start delivering the new model to customers from March 25.

Metal shares witnessed renewed buying interest. Hindalco and Tata Steel were up 1%-4% each.

Profit taking was seen in financials after recent gains on hopes of a rate by the central bank. HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI were down 0.7%-1.4% each.

Among others, shares of aviation companies have rallied by up to 8% on the bourses in noon deal trade on back of heavy volumes in otherwise weak market. Jet Airways, InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet were up 4%-8% each.

GLOBAL MARKETS

st Asian markets except China are trading with marginal losses after the terror attack in Brussels dampened investor sentiment.  Nikkei, Hang Seng, and Straits Times are trading lower by 0.2%-0.4% each. Shanghai Composite was up 0.4%.