Indian equity markets close lower as telecom stocks plunge (Roundup)

In choppy trade on Thursday, Indian equity markets closed lower as telecom stocks plunged in the wake of Reliance Industries making its big-ticket announcement on Jio.

Also sluggish gross domestic product (GDP) numbers released on Wednesday evening dampened the spirit of the investors.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 28,459.09 points, closed at 28,423.48 points -- down 28.69 points, or 0.10 per cent, from the previous close at 28,452.17 points.

In the day's trade, Sensex touched a high of 28,548.85 points and low of 28,386.61 points.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 11.55 points or 0.13 percent lower at 8,774.65 points.

"With Reliance Industries annual general meeting revealing aggressive product (Jio's) launch, telecom sector in Nifty fell 7.38 per cent, dragging Index down," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

"After witnessing gains of close to four per cent over the last few trading sessions, benchmark indices took a bit of a breather today. Markets were volatile as participants digested sluggish first quarter GDP numbers," said Shreyash Devalkar, Fund Manager -- Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

India's GDP growth slowed down to 7.1 per cent in the first quarter against 7.5 per cent post during the same period last year.

In Thursday's trade, heavy selling pressure was seen in telecom, realty, technology, media and entertainment (TECK) and energy sectors, while good buying was observed in auto and metal sectors.

The S&P BSE telecom index plunged by 5.67 per cent, realty index slipped by 2 per cent, TECK index dropped by 1 per cent and energy index went down by 1.30 per cent, while auto index went up by 0.35 per cent and metal index moved up by 0.32 per cent.

The telecom stocks took a beating on Thursday. Reliance Industries closed the day's trade at Rs 1,029.15 per share, down 2.73 per cent; Reliance Communications was at Rs 49.15 per share, down 8.81 per cent; Bharti Airtel was at Rs 310.70 per share, down 6.37 per cent; and Idea Cellular was Rs 83.70 per share, down 10.48 per cent in the BSE.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were 0.24 percent and 0.23 percent lower respectively. Mid-cap index was down by 0.38 percent and small-cap stocks by 0.39 percent.

The major Sensex gainers on Thursday were: GAIL, up 2.06 per cent at Rs 392; Coal India, up 1.32 per cent at Rs 338.05; ICICI Bank, up 1.24 per cent at Rs 260.90; and Lupin, up 1.21 per cent at Rs 1,501.60.

The losers were: Bharti Airtel, down 6.37 per cent at Rs 310.70; Reliance Industries, down 2.73 per cent at Rs 1,029.15; Adani Ports, down 1.43 per cent at Rs 258.95; and Wipro, down 1.39 per cent at Rs 483.70.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei moved up by 0.23 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.81 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged by 0.73 per cent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.15 per cent, France's CAC 40 moved up by 1.09 per cent and Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.53 per cent at the closing in the Indian markets.

--IANS

ag/vt