Indian share markets pared gains but continued to hover above the dotted line in the post noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading positive with auto, realty and pharma leading the gains. FMCG, consumer durables and metals are trading in red.
BSE-Sensex is up 10 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up 4 points. While BSE Mid Cap is trading up by 0.2%, BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.3%. The rupee is trading at 54.9 to the US dollar.
Majority of telecom stocks are trading mixed with AGC Networks and Bharti Airtel being the biggest gainers and ADC India and Tata Teleservices being the biggest losers. According to a leading financial daily, telecom companies facing cash shortage are contemplating a hike in 2G data rates to tide rising costs and improve margins. Bharti Airtel increased price of its 1 GB 2G data plan last week by 25% and has also been slashing freebies to its customers in an attempt to rein in costs. As per the company, the latest price revision is subject to rate elasticity, customer demand and supporting cost structures. Bharti Airtel has recently stated that the pricing of both voice and non-voice services will have to move up for the telecom industry to remain sustainable. Reportedly, Vodafone and Idea Cellular are also planning to raise 2G data rates after the hike by Bharti Airtel. The stock is currently up 1%.
Majority of the bank PSU stocks are trading mixed with Bank of India and IDBI Bank being the top gainers and Oriental Bank and Central Bank being among the losers. As per a leading financial daily, State Bank of India (SBI) has witnessed growth in the December home loans by nearly 20% over the previous month. It is believed that this is the second all time high growth. The expansion is derived after deducting loan repayments from disbursals. The bank's retail book is contributing significantly as it offers the loan at the cheapest rate of around 10% per annum. Further, the bank has been taking various initiatives to increase the customer base. It is also mulling over the base rate cut. The stock is currently trading up by 0.6%.
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