Telecom stocks surge

Key benchmark indices continued to trade with small gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 68.88 points or 0.21% at 32,458.84. The Nifty 50 index rose 29.25 points or 0.29% at 10,174.30. Firmness in most Asian stocks supported gains on the domestic bourses.

Key indices opened with small gains tracking firm Asian stocks and soon extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in early trade. Stocks pared gains in morning trade and traded with small gains in mid-morning trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.49%, outperforming the Sensex. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.11%, underperforming the Sensex.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,209 shares rose and 1,160 shares declined. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.

Cement stocks rose. ACC (up 0.93%), Shree Cement (up 0.17%), and Ambuja Cements (up 2.02%) gained.

UltraTech Cement rose 2.73% after a foreign brokerage house reportedly upgraded the stock to buy from outperform. The brokerage house reportedly upgraded its rating on UltraTech Cement following a positive surprise in the company's earnings. UltraTech had a strong Q2 earnings as product prices stayed nearly unchanged QoQ versus expectation of slight decline.

Grasim Industries advanced 2.07%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Telecom stocks also gained after reports suggested that Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries has raised the tariffs. Bharti Airtel (up 2.78%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 4.86%) Reliance Communications (up 5.78%) and Idea Cellular (up 5.43%) gained.

Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 2.87%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

A global brokerage reportedly said that Jio's action implies a progressively normalisation of sector pricing". Jio's entry had sparked cutthroat competition in telecom sector, eroding profitability.

Shares of Indian Energy Exchange were trading at Rs 1,640.70 at 11:12 IST on BSE, a discount of 0.56% over the initial public offer price of Rs 1,650. The stock debuted at Rs 1,500, a discount of 9.09% to the initial public offer (IPO) price. Indian Energy Exchange is a professionally managed company and is the largest exchange for trading of range of electricity contracts in India in terms of traded contract volumes in FY 17, according to Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Overseas, most Asian stocks gained led by Japanese stocks as the dollar spiked to more than three-month highs against the yen following a snap election in Japan on Sunday, 22 October 2017. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition secured a two-thirds "super majority" after winning 312 out of 465 seats available at Sunday's election, as per reports. Abe's solid win at the polls points to a continuation of fiscal and hyper-easy monetary policies under his Abenomics program.

Wall Street stocks surged to fresh records Friday, 20 October 2017, after US lawmakers took a key step toward enacting the tax reform plan sought by President Donald Trump. Investors were cheered by a party-line 51-49 vote in the Senate for a federal budget plan that permits the legislative body to pass the tax cut plan with a simple majority vote instead of a 60-person supermajority.

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