Realty stocks gain

Key benchmark indices hovered within a narrow range in positive terrain in mid-morning trade. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 59.85 points or 0.21% at 28,483.33. The gains for the Nifty 50 index were lower than the Sensex's gains in percentage terms. The Nifty was currently up 9.85 points or 0.11% at 8,784.50. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,374 shares rose and 871 shares declined. A total of 130 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.46%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.47%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks were mixed ahead of the influential US non-farm payrolls data, which will be released later in the global day today, 2 September 2016. US stocks finished mostly higher yesterday, 1 September 2016, recovering from earlier losses, as investors braced for the much-anticipated August jobs data, which could set the stage for a near-term interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve. A report from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) yesterday, 1 September 2016 showed US factory activity contracted for the first time in six months in August as new orders and production tumbled.

Realty stocks gained. DLF (up 0.74%), D B Realty (up 2.02%), Sobha (up 0.1%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.33%), Unitech (up 0.5%), NBCC (up 2.1%), Godrej Properties (up 0.75%), Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 0.61%), and Oberoi Realty (up 4.53%) edged higher.

Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 1.6%. The company's telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio) yesterday, 1 September 2016 announced the launch of its digital services with Jio Welcome Offer which will be effective from 5 September 2016. As part of the Jio Welcome Offer, users will have access to unlimited LTE data and national voice, video and messaging services along with the full bouquet of Jio applications and content, free of cost up to 31 December 2016. The company filed its tariff plans with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The announcement was made by the Chairman of RIL, Mukesh D. Ambani, at the Annual General Meeting of RIL yesterday, 1 September 2016. Ambani emphasised the benefits of digitalisation and said in his speech that Jio is dedicated to realising the Prime Minister's inspiring vision of "Digital India" for 1.2 billion Indians. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 September 2016.

Ambani also announced that domestic voice calls to any network across the country would be free for Jio subscribers even beyond the Jio Welcome Offer. Domestic roaming services would also not be charged separately. Average data prices would be around Rs 50 per GB, which would be amongst the lowest in the world. Ambani also announced that its retail arm, Reliance Retail has introduced a line-up of superaffordable 4G LTE smartphones under the LYF brand, starting at Rs 2,999. More feature-rich models will be available at progressively higher price-points like Rs. 3999, Rs. 4999 and so on. Jio announced the setting-up of the Jio Digital India Start-up Fund. Jio will work on creating Jio Digital Entrepreneurship Hubs in key cities and towns of India. The Jio Digital India Startup Fund has set aside Rs 5000 crore to be invested over the next 5 years.

Shares of telecom companies dropped for the second day in a row post announcement of cheap tariff plans by Reliance Jio. Reliance Communications (RCom) (down 1.22%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.45%) and Idea Cellular (down 2.33%) declined.

Bharti Airtel rose 0.21%. The company said that the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (High Court) approved the merger of Airtel Bangladesh into Robi Axiata owing to certain conditions. The proposed merger is also subject to fulfilment of other conditions stipulated in the agreement and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016, Bharti Airtel said. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 September 2016.

It may be recalled that Bharti Airtel had in January this year announced signing a definitive agreement with Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) to merge their respective telecommunications subsidiaries in Bangladesh namely Robi Axiata and Airtel Bangladesh.

In its monsoon daily update issued yesterday, 1 September 2016, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that for the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon so far (till 1 September 2016) was 2% below the long period average (LPA).

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