Indian Markets Open Flat

Tue, 10 Mar 09:30 am

   03:30 pm   

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   01:30 pm   

   Closing   

Asian stocks are trading in a mixed tone despite Chinese economy having disclosed better than expected inflation figures on a MoM and YoY basis. While the Japanese stocks are trading in the green with gains of 0.22%; Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese and Hong Kong stocks are trading in the red with losses of 0.40%, 0.31%, 0.3% and 0.82%, respectively. Investors are still wary about the fact that U.S. might increase the interest rates sooner than thought.

Indian markets extended yesterday's losses and has opened today's trading session marginally in the red. BSE Sensex is trading marginally in the green while NSE Nifty is trading with a loss of 0.05% or 4 points. S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap indices are trading with gains of 0.5% each. The value of Indian Rupee increased for the third consecutive day. The currency has increased 0.33% and is currently trading at Rs 62.76 against the U.S. Dollar. Gold prices are marginally in the green with a gain of Rs 10. Gold is currently trading at Rs 26,022 per 10 grams. Silver prices lost 0.20% or Rs 70 per kilogram and are trading at Rs 35,900. Crude oil prices gained about 0.44% or Rs 14 and is trading at Rs 3152 levels per barrel.

According to the reports released by the power and coal sector, the Government has collected as much as Rs 1860 billion on account of coal auctions. This figure has also been disclosed by the official auditor of CAG. If e-auctions, upfront payments and royalties are included, the amount would exceed Rs 2000 billion. Power and steel companies have been the biggest beneficiaries of this auction. Major companies that have won coal blocks include Adani Power, Jindal Steel and Power, Ambuja Cements, GMR Mining and Sesa Sterlite. The fifth day of auction opened with the bidding of two coal blocks namely the Utkal C coal block and Lohari coal block in Odisha and Jharkhand, respectively. While Utkal C Block has been awarded to Monnet Power at the rate of Rs 770 per tonne, Lohari coal block is open for bidding. The front runners for the bids are Tata Sponge, Rungta Mines, Tirumala Industries and Usha Martin. The share price of Tata Sponge has gained more than 3%.

Apart from the coal blocks, spectrum auctions are also underway. The government has achieved its target of Rs 820 billion from spectrum auctioning. The spectrum auction has already fetched around Rs 940 billion. According to leading financial sources, the price of 900 mhz has jumped over 75% as the major telecom companies like include Airtel, Rcomm, Idea and Vodafone focus on retaining and renewing their existing spectrum circles. However, 2100 mhz has received the least response as the bandwidth only 5 mhz has been kept up for auctioning. The share price of Bharti Airtel gained more than 2%.