Indian equity markets continued to trade in the red over last two hours of trade on the back of selling witnessed in index heavyweights. Most of the sectoral indices are trading weak led by IT and power stocks.
The BSE-Sensex is trading lower by 38 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down by 15 points. BSE Mid cap and BSE Small cap indices are trading lower by 0.1% and 0.3% respectively. The rupee is trading at 55.95 to the US dollar.
Energy stocks are trading weak led by Cairn India and Castrol. However, Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) is trading firm. The gas utility firm had approached the Delhi high court over the legality of the powers conferred upon Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board regarding fixing of network tariffs. Earlier in April, PNGRB had ordered IGL to cut tariff by 60% and that too with retrospective effect from April 2008. This implies a refund of Rs 9-12 bn from IGL. As per IGL, this amount if returned, would wipe out the entire networth of the gas company which is roughly Rs 15 bn. The verdict in this dispute is awaited today.
Telecom stocks are trading in the green led by AGC Networks and Tata Teleservices. As per a leading daily, the National Telecom Policy-2012 is finally out and has been cleared by the government. This would make free roaming throughout India a reality. Also, country-wide mobile number portability (MNP) is now possible. The new policy will bring about a number of other positive changes too including liberalised spectrum, pan-India operator licences, technology-agnostic spectrum. This spells a shift in Indian telecom industry from voice to data with emphasis on broadband penetration and making spectrum technology-agnostic. In simple words, the operators have been allowed to provide any service on technology and on any device.
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