Sensex, Nifty pare gains; telcos in action

Key benchmark indices pared gains in morning trade. Investors were cautious ahead of the Supreme Court (SC) hearing on the telecos plea on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues scheduled later today.

At 10:24 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 98.54 points or 0.24% at 41,558.33. The Nifty 50 index added 33.20 points or 0.27% at 12,207.85.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.14% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.36%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1022 shares rose and 830 shares fell. A total of 78 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 36 stocks advanced while 14 stocks declined.

Buzzing Index:

The BSE S&P Telecom index advanced 0.95% to 1259.15, outperforming the benchmark Sensex.

Vodafone Idea surged 14.29% to Rs 5.12 while Bharti Airtel rose 0.31% to Rs 541.50. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) fell 6.32% to Rs 3.41.

The SC will hear fresh pleas of telecom firms, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices, seeking a new schedule of payment of statutory dues to the tune of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to DoT. A bench of justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah will hear a batch of petitions filed by telecom companies in open court.

The pleas filed by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices have sought more time for payment of AGR related dues. The telecom companies want to negotiate a fresh payment schedule with DoT, which has issued demand notices to them. The SC on January 21 agreed to hear the modification plea filed by telecom operators on giving them more time to pay off AGR related dues.

Q3 earnings:

Among the Nifty stocks, ONGC (down 0.62%) will declare it third quarter earnings today.

Future Retail slipped 0.40% to Rs 375.60. The supermarket chain consolidated net profit slumped 16.7% to Rs 165.18 crore on a 2.3% fall in net sales to Rs 5193.19 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Interest costs surged 374.5% YoY to Rs 276.35 crore in the December quarter.

Himadri Speciality Chemical fell 5.96% to Rs 55.20. The chemical maker reported 84% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 15.92 crore on a 27.3% fall in net sales to Rs 429.73 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Avenue Supermarts fell 3.53% to Rs 2452.55 after the company informed that its promoters will sell up to 2.28% stake through an offer for sale (OFS) that will fetch Rs 3,032.5 crore ($426 million). The shares will be sold at a floor price of Rs 2,049. The OFS will open on Friday for institutional investors, while retail investors will be able to subscribe on Monday.

HDFC advanced 0.16% to Rs 2407. The corporation has updated its existing medium-term note program for an amount of up to $2.8 billion to issue rupee/foreign currency-denominated bonds in international capital markets, subject to regulatory approvals.

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