Telecom stocks in demand

After moving in a narrow range in mid-morning trade, key benchmark indices trimmed gains in early afternoon trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was currently up 30.31 points or 0.11% at 28,208.19. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 656.37 crore yesterday, 17 November 2014, as per provisional data. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, 17 November 2014, said that he is in touch with various state governments and most of the contentious issues on the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) have already been resolved. Jaitley said that the targets fixed for disinvestment in the current financial year are quite ambitious one but he hopes to achieve that or reach near the same.

Telecom stocks rose across the board on reports Defence Ministry and Telecom Ministry will coordinate to resolve spectrum issue. Shares of infrastructure developers edged higher after Jaitley yesterday, 17 November 2014, said that he is in discussion with the members of opposition parties to make necessary procedural changes in Land Acquisition Act in order to avoid delay in the implementation of the infrastructure projects. Shares of pharmaceutical companies edged higher as rupee edged lower against the dollar. Ashok Leyland fell on profit booking.

Earlier, key benchmark indices had struck record high in morning trade after witnessing initial volatility.

In overseas markets, Japanese stocks led gains in Asian markets following reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will today, 18 November 2014, announce plans to put off a sales-tax increase and call an election after data yesterday, 17 November 2014, showed the Japanese economy entered recession.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar on broad strength for the dollar.

Brent crude futures fell as investors weighed the likelihood of an output cut by OPEC when the group meets next week amid signs of weakening global demand.

At 12:15 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 30.31 points or 0.11% at 28,208.19. The index jumped 104.97 points at the day's high of 28,282.85 in morning trade, a record high for the index. The index fell 0.58 points at the day's low of 28,177.30 in early trade.

The CNX Nifty was up 6.55 points or 0.08% at 8,437.30. The index hit a high of 8,454.50 in intraday trade, a record high for the index. The index hit a low of 8,422.55 in intraday trade.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,576 shares gained and 1,105 shares fell. A total of 106 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 54.14 points or 0.53% at 10,301.84. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 91.03 points or 0.80% at 11,428.99. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Among the 30 Sensex shares, 17 rose and the remaining shares declined.

Telecom stocks rose across the board on reports Defence Ministry and Telecom Ministry will coordinate to resolve spectrum issue. Reliance Communications (up 6.65%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 4.74%), Idea Cellular (up 2.74%) and Bharti Airtel (up 2.27%), edged higher.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have reportedly agreed to work in consent, coordination and synergy to resolve spectrum related issues. Based on various recommendations and agreements, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) expects Defence ministry to clear about 165 Mhz of spectrum across frequency bands. Out of all bands, there is immediate demand for 3G spectrum in frequency band 2100 Mhz. Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that spectrum in 2100 Mhz band, a part of which is with the Defence Ministry, should be put up for auction along with two sets of spectrum bands- 900Mhz and 1800Mhz in February next year, reports added.

Shares of infrastructure developers edged higher after Jaitley yesterday, 17 November 2014, said that he is in discussion with the members of opposition parties to make necessary procedural changes in Land Acquisition Act in order to avoid delay in the implementation of the infrastructure projects. GVK Power and Infrastructure (up 2.52%), Reliance Infrastructure up (up 1.98%), GMR Infrastructure (up 1.23%) and Larsen & Toubro (up 1.13%) edged higher.

Jaitley said that the government has taken series of measures to tackle various challenges being faced by the infrastructure sector in the country. The Finance Minister said that many more such measures are in offing in near future. Meanwhile, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday, 17 November 2014, between Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Department of Commerce, United States of America (USA) on establishing Infrastructure Collaboration Platform. The (MoU) establishes a United States-India Infrastructure Collaboration Platform, under which the governments of the two nations intend to coordinate and cooperate with the goal of facilitating US industry participation in Indian infrastructure projects to improve the bilateral commercial relationship and benefit both the Participants' economies, India's Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies edged higher as rupee edged lower against the dollar today, 17 November 2014. Weakness in rupee against the dollar could boost sales of pharma companies in rupee terms as pharma firms derive substantial revenue from exports. Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.99%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 2.56%), Wockhardt (up 1.65%), Strides Arcolab (up 1.55%), Biocon (up 1.15%), Ipca Laboratories (up 1.12%), Lupin (up 1.12%), Divi's Laboratories (up 0.88%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.6%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.35%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.09%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.01%), edged higher. Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 0.33%) and Cipla (down 0.82%), declined.

Ashok Leyland fell 1.45% to Rs 54.50 on profit booking after gaining 21.4% in prior eleven trading days. Shares of Ashok Leyland had gained 21.4% in eleven trading days to settle at Rs 55.30 on 17 November 2014 from its recent low of Rs 45.55 on 29 October 2014.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar on broad strength for the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.8125, compared with its close of 61.74 during the previous trading session.

Brent crude futures fell as investors weighed the likelihood of an output cut by OPEC when the group meets next week amid signs of weakening global demand. Brent for January settlement was off 42 cents to $78.89 a barrel. The contract had lost 10 cents to settle at $79.31 yesterday, 17 November 2014.

Oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are scheduled to meet in Vienna on 27 November 2014 to consider whether to adjust their output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) for early 2015.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, 17 November 2014, said that he is in touch with the various state governments and most of the contentious issues on the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) have already been resolved. The Finance Minister was delivering the Key Note Address at the Citi's Investor Summit: India - Poised for Higher Growth. Jaitley said there are two areas including liquor and petroleum products where the state governments want to have taxation authority. Jaitley said two state governments want entry tax and octroi to be kept-out of the purview of the GST. The Finance Minster said that all these issues will be sorted-out soon. Jaitley said he will apprise the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers' about the draft Constitution Amendment Bill on GST before introducing the same in parliament. Jaitley said that the targets fixed for disinvestment in the current financial year are quite ambitious one but he hopes to achieve that or reach near the same. He said that road shows in this regard are being held in many parts of the world.

The Finance Minister said that inflation, especially food inflation has moderated in last few months and global fuel prices have also come down. Therefore, if RBI which is highly professional organization in its wisdom decides to bring down the cost of capital, it will give a good fillip to the Indian economy, Jaitley said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next undertakes monetary policy review on 2 December 2014. The central bank aims to limit consumer-price gains to 8% by January 2015 and 6% by January 2016. Over the longer term, the RBI aims to limit consumer-price gains to 4%, within a 2% band. The annual rate of inflation based on the combined consumer price index (CPI) for urban and rural India eased to 5.52% in October 2014 from 6.46% in September 2014, data released by the government on 12 November 2014 showed.

Meanwhile, a joint statement issued today, 18 November 2014, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official visit to Australia from 16-18 November 2014 stated that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Modi agreed to expedite progress towards early conclusion of the administrative arrangements to implement the Civil Nuclear Agreement signed between Australia and India during Abbott's visit to India in September. Australian supply of uranium in coming years will enhance India's energy security, the joint statement stated.

Japanese stocks led gains in Asian markets today, 18 November 2014, on reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will today, 18 November 2014, announce plans to put off a sales-tax increase and call an election after data yesterday, 17 November 2014, showed the Japanese economy entered recession. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and were up 0.40% to 2.18%. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan were off 0.28% to 0.97%.

Deputy policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party reportedly said that the Japanese government will order the creation of an economic stimulus package.

Indonesia's central bank Bank Indonesia will hold an extraordinary meeting today, 18 November 2014, after the government yesterday, 17 November 2014, announced an increase in the price of subsidized fuel by roughly a third.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 2 points at the opening bell today, 18 November 2014. Most US stocks ended higher yesterday, 17 November 2014, as deal activity worth $100 billion and hopes of more European stimulus offset concerns about overseas growth after Japan's economy slipped into recession.

In Europe, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi explicitly cited government-bond buying as a policy tool officials could use to stimulate the economy if the outlook worsens. He was speaking during quarterly testimony to lawmakers at the European Parliament yesterday, 17 November 2014.

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