Equities flat in early trading, telecom stocks gain

Equity indices were subdued during early hours on Wednesday in line with Asian markets ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due to be announced later today.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 126 points at 39,956 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 33 points to 11,820. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty IT up by 1.1 per cent but auto, pharma and private banks in the red.

Shares of Vodafone Idea rose by 2.8 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 2.1 per cent and Bharti Infratel by 2.7 per cent after sources said that the Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has been asked to evaluate financial stress faced by telecom operators and suggest measures to alleviate the stress.

Oil marketing firms IndianOil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation edged higher by 2.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a day earlier that India will invest 100 billion dollars in oil and gas infrastructure to meet energy needs of an economy that is being targeted to nearly double in five years.

The other prominent gainers were IT majors Infosys and Wipro, Grasim, Larsen & Toubro and Vedanta. However, those which lost marginally were Tata Motors, Cipla, Coal India, Eicher Motors and IndusInd Bank.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets traded flat as the prospect of a rate cut by the US Fed was countered by worries that the US-China first-stage trade deal could be delayed.

Japan's Nikkei slipped marginally while South Korea's Kospi traded down by 0.7 per cent. The Shanghai Composite fell by 0.53 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped by 0.44 per cent.

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