Telecom stocks gain as equity indices remain flat, Vodafone Idea up by 18 pc

Equity benchmark indices gained marginally during early hours on Tuesday as investors remained cautious in the absence of any major positive triggers on the domestic and global front.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 52 points at 40,336 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 11 points to 11,895.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty auto, financial service, FMCG, metal, PSU bank and realty in the red. But Nifty pharma, IT and private bank were in the positive zone.

Among stocks, telecom majors continued their northward journey after announcing tariff hikes from next month. Vodafone India gained by 18.12 per cent to Rs 5.28 per share while Bharti Airtel was up by 4.4 per cent and Bharti Infratel by 5.6 per cent.

The other prominent gainers were Cipla, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Grasim and Larsen & Toubro.

However, Zee Entertainment Enterprises share price fell by 1.8 per cent after Brickwork Ratings India downgraded its credit rating of the non-convertible preference shares. Metal stocks Vedanta and Hindalco lost by 1.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively besides GAIL and Hindustan Lever which lost by 1 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Asian share markets were mixed as traders awaited clearer outcomes on the US-China trade negotiations.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan inched 0.2 per cent higher as hopes for stimulus in China lifted Shanghai blue chips by 0.8 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng by 1 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei shed 0.2 per cent and South Korea's Kospi dropped by 0.3 per cent.