Key benchmark indices held firm in mid-morning trade amid sustained buying in index pivotals. At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 169.85 points or 0.5% at 34,017.88. The Nifty 50 index was up 38.80 points or 0.37% at 10,516.70. The Sensex was trading above the psychological 34,000 mark after regaining that level in morning trade. Shares of telecom and telecom tower infrastructure providers rose. Most realty stocks gained.
Trading for last session of 2017 began on positive note. Fresh buying in index pivotals pushed the key benchmark indices to fresh intraday high in morning trade.
Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.77%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,657 shares rose and 798 shares fell. A total of 182 shares were unchanged.
Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading higher after Wall Street finished with modest gains. South Korean markets were closed today, 29 December 2017. US stocks rose yesterday, 28 December 2017, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing at a record high buoyed mostly by gains in bank shares and a slight pick up in energy and materials.
In US economic data, the advance trade deficit in goods increased to $69.7 billion in November from $68.1 billion in October. The purchasing managers index for Chicago showed a rise of 67.6 in December from 63.9 in the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.
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In Europe, Italy's President Sergio Mattarella dissolved parliament yesterday, 28 December 2017 and called elections for early March 2018, a vote that will highlight the economic and political problems still stalking Europe and the country's role as the weakest flank in the currency union.
Back home, shares of telecom and telecom tower infrastructure providers rose. Idea Cellular (up 4.01%), MTNL (up 1.6%), Bharti Infratel (up 1.85%) and Bharti Airtel (up 0.56%) edged higher.
Reliance Communications jumped 19.67% to Rs 37.05 after the company announced that it has signed definitive binding agreements with Reliance Jio Infocomm for sale of wireless spectrum, tower, fiber and media convergence node (MCN) assets. The company will utilise the proceeds of the monetisation of this cash deal solely for pre-payment of debt to its lenders. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 28 December 2017.
Reliance Jio Infocomm is a leading telecom operator and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL). Shares of RIL rose 0.06% to Rs 925.
RCom said that it worked closely with all lenders and SBI Capital Markets, the advisors appointed by the lenders, to run a competitive process for the monetisation of its valuable assets, comprising 122.4 MHz of 4G Spectrum in the 800/900/1800/2100 MHz bands, over 43,000 towers, amongst the top 3 independent tower holdings in India, 1,78,000 RKM of fiber with pan India footprint and 248 media convergence nodes, covering around 5 million square feet used for hosting telecom infrastructure.
RJIO emerged as the highest bidder in a transparent process conducted under the supervision of a high-powered bid evaluation committee, comprising experts from banking, telecom and law. The company expects the transactions to close in a phased manner between January and March 2018, subject to lenders' and other applicable approvals. The RJIO deal consideration comprises primarily of cash payment and includes transfer of deferred spectrum installments payable to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).
On 26 December 2017, RCom had announced its exit from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s strategic debt restructuring (SDR) framework, with zero equity conversion and zero loan write-offs for lenders and bond holders. Upon completion of all transactions as announced, the balance debt in RCom is expected to be approximately Rs 6000 crore only, representing reduction of over 85% of total debt.
Most realty stocks gained. D B Realty (up 9.91%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.51%), Unitech (up 9.07%), Oberoi Realty (up 1.68%), Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 10.15%) edged higher. DLF (down 1.06%), Sobha (down 0.74%) and Godrej Properties (down 0.63%) declined.
Among macro economic data, India's infrastructure output data for the month of November 2017 will be released today, 29 December 2017. Infrastructure output in India increased 4.7% year-on-year in October of 2017, following a downwardly revised 4.7% rise in the previous month.
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