After opening weak, the Indian indices are trading well below the dotted line in the morning session. Apart from pharma stocks, all sectoral indices are trading in the red. The selling pressure is highest engineering and banking stocks.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down 150 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading down 45 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down 0.6% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading down 0.7%. The rupee is trading at 61.49 to the US dollar.
Most software stocks are trading lower today. HCL Technologies and Wipro are among the stocks leading the losses. India's third largest software firm, Wipro, has entered into a strategic partnership with a US based firm, SGI. Under the partnership, Wipro will provide SGI with software support in the areas of big data analytics, business intelligence and other digital technologies. It will also help the company expand its operations in India. Wipro has been increasing its presence in the digital space for a while now and is keen on winning larger deals. The financial details of this partnership were not disclosed by the company. Wipro is trading down 1.4% today.
Most telecom stocks are trading lower today. Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular are among the stocks leading the losses. As per a leading business daily, India's largest telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel, will raise about Rs 24.36 bn via a European bond issue. The bonds are to be denominated in Swiss currency and have been priced at 230 basis points over the 6 year benchmark Swiss bond. It has been rated as investment grade by S&P and Moodys and has a coupon rate of 3%. The issue is open for subscription to European investors. Bharti will use the funds to refinance the higher cost rupee denominated debt on its balance sheet. Bharti Airtel is trading down 2% today.
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