Sensex Trades on a Volatile Note; Airtel, Idea Down by 5%

Wed, 24 Jan 01:30 pm

   Previous Close   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   Closing   

After opening the day in green share markets in India  witnessed choppy trading activity and are presently trading above the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note, with stocks in the IT sector and stocks in the pharma sector witnessing maximum buying interest. While stocks in the consumer durables sector are leading the losses.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 90 points (up 0.3%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up by 15 points (up 0.1%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.4%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.6%. The rupee is trading at 63.68 to the US$.

In news from stocks in the IT sector. Wipro share price is in focus today.

The company announced that it won a multi-year business process services engagement with Nilfiska leading global supplier of professional cleaning equipment and solutions, headquartered in Denmark.

As part of the contract, which was signed in June 2017, Wipro will leverage its global delivery network to implement business process services for Nilfisk in areas of finance and accounting, marketing services as well as select IT services in 45+ client locations, across the world.

Wipro said it will support Nilfisk in consolidating its back-office Finance & Accounting operations, being delivered from globally diverse locations.

BSE IT Index vis-a-vis Sensex

The Indian information technology (IT) sector has been through the doldrums over the past few years. IT giants have seen flat to negligible growth in the past 3-4 years. However, going by the IT index performance in the past few months, there seems to be some fight left in the IT space. The BSE IT index has grown by 8% since August 2017 as compared to Sensex growth of 6% in the same time period.

This is in stark contrast to its performance over the past four years. The Indian IT Index has returned a meager 19% returns as compared to Sensex returns of 58% since 2013.

The sector has seen a major disruption in the business model. The shift from traditional IT services like application maintenance to analytics, cloud computing has hurt growth for almost all major IT companies.

Recent protectionist policies announced by the American government since Trump's appointment have further escalated their problems.

As a result, major Indian IT companies are trading at multi-year low valuations. Also, IT companies are moving towards an efficient business model whereby manpower for mundane tasks are being replaced by automation. It will be an interesting space to watch out for in the days ahead.

Moving on to news from stocks in the telecom sector. Idea cellular share price and Bharti Airtel share price are in focus today after deep-pocketed Reliance Jio launched newer and cheaper tariff plans to intensify competition once again. The new plans were seen to offer more data for the same price, along with introducing a cheaper price point.

The telecom industry, already plagued by tariff wars and debt of Rs 5 trillion has had another poor quarter. The latest tariff cuts are expected to drag average revenue per user (ARPU) by another 20-30% in the coming quarters.

Jio clocked in an ARPU of Rs 154 compared to Rs123 of Airtel for the quarter to December. Idea's ARPU, which too has been falling, is expected at around Rs 115.

The whole telecom business has been an underwhelming story so far. While the telecom subscriber base has increased from 300 million in 2008 to 1.2 billion in 2017, investors have little to cheer. The BSE Sensex has gone up 3.25 times in nine years, but the BSE Telecom Index has not moved an inch from its levels of 2008.

With the entry of Reliance Jio, the competition has intensified further. Reliance Jio's low cost offerings and strategy of capturing market share will further dent the sector. The sector has been a classic 'value trap'. While it always looks cheap compared to other sectors, it has failed to provide any reasonable returns. We also believe the situation is unlikely to change in the near future. For an investor, it's important to differentiate between 'value' and 'value traps'.

At the time of writing, Bharti Airtel share price was trading down by 4.9%, while was trading down by 5%.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary

Top Gainers TodayTop Gainers over 1-WeekTop Gainers over 1-MonthTop Gainers over 1-YearTop Gainers over 3-YrsTop Gainers over 5-YrsTop Losers TodayTop Losers over 1-WeekTop Losers over 1-MonthTop Losers over 1-YearTop Losers over 3-YrsTop Losers over 5-YrsOnly BuyersOnly SellersMost Active StocksMost Popular Stocks52 Week High Stocks52 Week Low Stocks

INDICESBSE (Rs 0 to 1)BSE (Rs 1 to 2)BSE (Rs 2 to 4)BSE (Rs 4 to 10)BSE (Rs 10 to 20)BSE (Above Rs 20)BSE - AllBSE-30BSE-100BSE-200BSE-500BSE AutoBSE BankexBSE Capital GoodsBSE Consumer DurablesBSE FMCGBSE HealthcareBSE ITBSE MetalBSE Oil & GasBSE PSUBSE TeckBSE RealtyBSE PowerBSE A GroupBSE B GroupBSE Mid-CapBSE Small-CapBSE Basic MaterialsBSE Consumer DiscretionaryBSE IndustrialsBSE UtilitiesBSE Sensex 50BSE Sensex Next 50BSE Bharat 22BSE 150 MidCapBSE 250 SmallCapBSE 250 LargeMidCapBSE 400 MidSmallCapBSE AllCapBSE LargeCapBSE SmallCap SelectBSE 100 LargeCap TMCBSE InfraBSE ManufacturingBSE CPSEBSE Private BankBSE Diversified FinancialsBSE MomentumBSE Low VolatilityBSE QualityBSE Enhanced ValueBSE Divident StabilityS&P BSE IPOBSE SMEIPOBSE 100 ESGBSE CarbonexBSE GreenexNSE (Rs 0 to 10)NSE (Rs 10 to 20)NSE (Above Rs 20)NSE - AllNSE-50NSE ITNSE Nifty Midcap 50NSE JR. NiftyNSE Bank NiftyNIFTY Next 50NIFTY 100NIFTY 200NIFTY 500NIFTY MidCap 100NIFTY SmallCap 250NIFTY SmallCap 50NIFTY SmallCap 100NIFTY LargeMidCap 250NIFTY MidSmallCap 400NIFTY AutoNIFTY Consumer DurablesNIFTY FinanceNIFTY FMCGNIFTY MediaNIFTY MetalNIFTY PharmaNIFTY Private BankNIFTY PSU BankNIFTY RealtyNIFTY Oil & GasNIFTY SME EmergeNIFTY CommoditiesNIFTY CPSENIFTY EnergyNIFTY India ConsumptionNIFTY InfraNIFTY MNCNIFTY PSENIFTY Serv SectorNIFTY100 Liquid 15NIFTY Midcap Liquid 15NIFTY Midcap 150 Quality 50NIFTY50 Equal WeightNIFTY100 Equal WeightNIFTY100 Low Volatility 30NIFTY100 Alpha 30NIFTY Alpha 50NIFTY Dividend Opportunities 50NIFTY High Beta 50NIFTY Low Volatility 50NIFTY200 Quality 30NIFTY 500 Value 50NIFTY 100 Quality 30SECTORSAgricultureAirlinesAluminiumAsset Management CompaniesAutomobilesAuto AncillariesBanks (Private)Banks (PSU)BankingCementChemicalsDefenceDiagnosticsDronesEngineeringElectric VehicleElectric Vehicle BatteryEnergy SourcesESGEthanolFertilizersFintechFMCGFoodGreen HydrogenHotelsInfrastructureInsuranceInvestment and FinanceInvITIT (Large)IT (Others)LogisticsMediaMetalMiningIndia's Big Tech StocksIndian PharmaMNC PharmaPSUPaintPaperPlasticPowerRating AgenciesReal EstateREITsRenewable EnergyRetailingSemiconductorShippingSteelSugarSupply ChainTelecomTextilesTravel Support Services

10 results 25 results 50 results 100 results All results

Indian Share Market Update: Top Gainers and Losers