India : Nifty opens above 8600, Sensex firm; GAIL, Cipla, BHEL gainers
The market has opened flat on Tuesday with the Nifty holding 8600. The 50-share index is down 1.90 points at 8633.75 and the Sensex is up 25.61 points at 28120.95. About 264 shares have advanced, 75 shares declined, and 21 shares are unchanged.
GAIL, Cipla, Tata Steel, BHEL and ONGC are top gainers while HDFC, Lupin, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy’s and Axis Bank are losers in the Sensex.
The Indian rupee opened marginally lower at 67.41 per dollar against previous close 67.35.
Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said, “US dollar has been gaining against most of the major and EM currencies, after some positive data. The USD-INR pair has also come off from recent highs after briefly trading below 67/dollar levels and subsequently settling in the 67-67.50/dollar range.”
The Telecom Commission has proposed to go ahead with its earlier recommendation of determining the spectrum usage charge as per a weighted-average formula.It is believed that such a proposal if it is ratified will impact a few telecom players which are now paying less than the 3 percent that the Telecom Commission is recommending.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Naveen Kulkarni of Philip Capital said that the impact on Idea Cellular will be limited. Idea Cellular doesn’t have spectrum in the 2300 MHz band, and hence it will be little impacted, says Kulkarni. He did say that Reliance Jio might feel a pinch, but only a tad. “The impact on Jio isn’t going to be signficant, though,” he said.
He also spoke on sector earnings. Earnings from the sector for the first quarter should be okay, he said. He thinks voice volumes should be normal for Bharti Airtel and Idea. This quarter should be good fo Bharti and Idea. He has buy recommendations on both these telecom players.
Japan will fail to meet its goal of achieving in fiscal 2020 nominal gross domestic product of 600 trillion yen (USD 5.7 trillion) even in fiscal 2024 if growth remains sluggish, the government’s projections showed on Tuesday, adding pressure on policymakers struggling to revive the economy.
The world’s third-largest economy now expects nominal GDP of 551 trillion yen in the fiscal year beginning in April 2020 assuming the current pace of growth, the Cabinet Office said.
Japan also expects to have a primary deficit of 9.2 trillion yen if growth remains weak, and fail to reach its target of a primary budget surplus even in fiscal 2024.
Among global markets, Asian markets slipped sending the safe-haven yen higher ahead of central bank meetings in the United States and Japan, while a fresh skid in oil dampened energy stocks on Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei shed 1 percent, with investors seemingly unimpressed by a Nikkei report the government planned a direct fiscal stimulus of around 6 trillion yen (USD 56 billion) over the next few years.
US stocks receded from record highs on Monday as oil weighed on energy shares and investors awaited an avalanche of quarterly reports.
Oil prices edged away from three-month lows, supported by a weaker dollar, but concerns of ongoing oversupply weighed on markets and many traders are raising their bets on further price falls.
The dollar slipped ahead of the FOMC meet while the yen gained on hopes that the Bank of Japan will ease later this week. Gold pares losses as the dollar and global stock markets turned lower.
