Realty, telecom stocks decline

A bout of volatility was witnessed in morning trade as key benchmark indices trimmed losses after extending initial losses and hitting fresh intraday low. At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 24.31 points or 0.09% at 27,757.94. The Nifty 50 index was currently down 10.60 points or 0.12% at 8,561.95. The Nifty trimmed losses after hitting lowest level in 2-1/2 weeks in morning trade. Weakness in most of the Asian stocks weighed on sentiment.

The Sensex fell 83.54 points or 0.3% at the day's low of 27,698.71 in morning trade. The barometer index rose 45.01 points or 0.16% at the day's high of 27,827.26 in opening trade. The Nifty fell 28.80 points or 0.33% at the day's low of 8,543.75 in morning trade, its lowest level since 11 August 2016. The index rose 11.20 points or 0.13% at the day's high of 8,583.75 in opening trade.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks edged lower after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Friday, 26 August 2016 signaled the possibility of an interest-rate increase later this year. But, Japanese shares bucked the weak trend in Asian stocks, boosted by a relatively weaker yen. Japan's Nikkei Average was currently up 2.46%. Investors tend to pull money out of assets in emerging markets and redirect it to the assets in US if there is a hike in US interest rates in their search for higher yields in the US.

US stocks closed mixed on Friday, 26 August 2016 after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen signaled the possibility of an interest-rate increase later this year. On Friday, 26 August 2016, Yellen in her highly-anticipated speech at an economic symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming said she was optimistic about the US economy, fueling expectations that interest rate hikes were ahead. She said the Federal Open Market Committee continued to anticipate gradual increases in the federal funds rate over time to achieve and sustain employment and inflation in line with the Fed's objectives. She added that the solid performance in the US labor market and outlook for economic activity and inflation had strengthened the case in recent months for an increase in the federal funds rate.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market turned negative from positive in morning trade. On BSE, 1,039 shares fell and 824 shares rose. A total of 115 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 0.35%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.27%. The decline in both these indices was higher in percentage terms than those for the Sensex.

Telecom stocks declined. Bharti Airtel (down 0.44%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.46%) and Idea Cellular (down 0.48%) declined. Reliance Communications (RCom) rose 0.74%.

Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 0.59%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Realty stocks also declined. Sobha (down 0.59%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.79%), Unitech (down 1.36%), Oberoi Realty (down 0.95%), and Godrej Properties (down 1.06%) edged lower.

DLF dropped 0.09% ahead of its Q1 results today, 29 August 2016.

The BSE Realty index had underperformed the market over the past one month till 26 August 2016, falling 2.9% compared with 0.69% slide in the Sensex. The index had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 10.72% as against Sensex's 5.37% rise.

GMR Infrastructure rose 3.28% after the company said that its subsidiary, GMR Airports (GAL), has won the international competitive bid for development and operation of Mopa Greenfield Airport in North Goa. The concession period for the Greenfield project will be 40 years with a possible extension of another 20 years through a bid process. The airport will be built under the BOT (Build Operate Transfer) model. GMR won the bid through a closely contested competitive bid process with Airports Authority emerging as the second highest bidder followed by the consortium of Essel InfraIncheon emerging third. The letter of award is expected to be issued within 60 days, while signing of concession agreement will be done within 45 days from the date of issuance of award letter. The regulatory regime for the concession will be hybrid till with 30% cross subsidy. The concession offers 232 acres of land for commercial city side development for a period of 60 years. The announcement was made after trading hours on Friday, 26 August 2016.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News