Indian share markets open firm

Mon, 3 Dec 09:30 am

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Barring China (down 0.3%) and Malaysia (down 0.1%), Asian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note with stock markets in Japan (up 0.6%) and South Korea (up 0.4%) leading the gains. The Indian share market indices have also opened the day on a firm note. Stocks in the capital goods and metal space are leading the gains.

The Sensex today is up by around 60 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by around 16 points (0.3%). Mid and small cap stocks are also trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. The rupee is trading at Rs 54.39 to the US dollar.

Telecom stocks have opened the week on a positive note with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications leading the pack of gainers. The government has officially received the amount due from the 2G spectrum auction. As per Economic Times, the government has managed to garner Rs 17.07 bn from the auction. This is way short from the original target of Rs 400 bn that it had expected. As per the daily, the incumbent operator Bharti Airtel has paid the entire amount of Rs 86.7 m that it needed to pay. Idea Cellular on the other hand opted to adjust its payment of Rs 6.7 bn against the license fee refund due to it on account of the licenses cancelled by Supreme Court earlier this year. However, Telenor promoted Telewings was not allowed to adjust the amount in the same manner. As a result it had to pay Rs 13.26 bn out of the total amount of Rs 40.18 bn that was due for the licenses. The government has stated that it would be looking at auctioning the rest of the spectrum before the end of the financial year 2013. It has also stated that it would be reviewing the reserve price for this to ensure a better participation.

Aluminium stocks have also opened the day on a firm note with National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), Sterlite Industries and Hindalco Industries trading in the green. As per a leading financial daily, state-run Nalco has hiked aluminium prices by Rs 4,500 per tonne (US$ 82.92). The price change will be effective for all products in the domestic market from December 1, 2012. After taking into account the price increase, the basic price of standard aluminium ingots now stands at Rs 143,700 per tonne. In November 2012, the company had increased prices for all its aluminium products by Rs 2,500. It is worth noting that Nalco, which is India's third largest producer of aluminium, revises aluminium products prices from time to time in order to mirror the prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME).