Nifty regains positive zone

A strong pullback from lower levels in early afternoon trade pushed the Nifty in positive zone while the Sensex was trading with small losses. At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 22.18 points or 0.07% at 33,667.91. The Nifty 50 index was up 3.05 points or 0.03% at 10,127.95. Intraday volatility was high. Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries advanced.

Trading for the day began on a weak note as the key benchmark indices drifted lower in early trade as most Asian stocks fell. Key benchmark indices cut losses in morning trade. Volatility struck bourses in mid-morning trade as the key benchmark indices resumed decline in mid-morning trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.91%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.48%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1180 shares rose and 1062 shares fell. A total of 147 shares were unchanged.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries advanced 2.15% to Rs 1,052.40

Telecom stocks rose. MTNL (up 1.08%), Vodafone Idea (up 0.4%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 1.25%) gained. Reliance Communications (down 2.42%) fell.

Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 0.08%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel rose 1.94%. Consolidated net profit fell 57.48% to Rs 249.20 crore on 6.22% decline in net sales to Rs 20422.50 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 25 October 2018.

Consolidated EBITDA fell 20.7% to Rs 6343 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. Consolidated EBITDA margin decreased to 31.1% in the quarter as compared to 36.8% in the corresponding quarter last year.

Consolidated mobile data traffic at 2,758 billion MBs in the quarter has registered a healthy year-on-year growth of 225%. Average revenue per user (ARPU) of the company declined 28.80% to Rs 101 for the quarter ended 30 September 2018. The figure stood at Rs 142 in the same period last year.

Biocon fell 0.12%. On a consolidated basis, Biocon's net profit surged 415.55% to Rs 354.70 crore on 36.38% rise in net sales to Rs 1,321 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 25 October 2018.

On the macro front, the fiscal deficit of the Central government has widened in the first half of 2018-19 to 95.3% of the Budget Estimate (BE), mainly on account of slow growth in revenue collections. The deficit was at 91.3% of BE at September-end of the last financial year.

The Government of India has received Rs 7,09,483 crore (39.03% of corresponding BE 18-19 of Total Receipts) upto September 2018 comprising Rs 5,82,783 crore Tax Revenue (Net to Centre), Rs 1,08,969 crore of Non-Tax Revenue and Rs 17,731 crore of Non-Debt Capital Receipts. Non-Debt Capital Receipts consists of Recovery of Loans (Rs 7,786 crore) and Disinvestment of PSUs (Rs 9,945 crore).

Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading lower after disappointing results from Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com heightened concerns over the outlook for US corporate earnings, global trade and economic growth.

US stock benchmarks staged a comeback yesterday, 25 October 2018, on bargain hunting, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels after the sell-off in the previous session. In economic data, the US pending home sales edged up 0.5% to a reading of 104.6 in September from 104.1 in August, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) reaffirmed its plan to end the asset-buying program at the heart of its quantitative-easing strategy in December provided data show inflation remains on track to eventually meet its target. The ECB left interest rates unchanged and repeated that they will remain at present levels at least through the summer of 2019.

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