Market Live: Sensex opens lower, Nifty below 10,250; Bharti Airtel up around 2%

10:22 am Oil prices: Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday as industry data showed a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Brent crude was up 50 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $ 63.84 a barrel by 0152 GMT. It had settled down $ 1.35, or 2.1 percent, at $ 63.34 on Tuesday on a wave of profit-taking after news of a key North Sea pipeline shutdown helped send the global benchmark above $ 65 for the first time since mid-2015.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $ 57.50 a barrel, having earlier settled down 85 cents at $ 57.14.

10:10 am Punj Lloyd surges: Punj Lloyd shares surged nearly 14 percent in morning Wednesday on receiving orders from GAIL India for construction of pipeline and NHAI for road project.
“Laying & construction of steel pipeline along with associated facilities for Dhamra-Angul Section of Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline Project (JHSDPL) PH-II worth Rs 276.11 crore awarded by Gail (India),” the engineering and construction

company said in its filing.

In statement the company further said it has bagged order from National Highway Authority of India for upgradation of Yargi-Kalewa Road section in Myanmar to two lane with Earth shoulders on EPC mode, worth Rs 1,177 crore.

The road project in Myanmar is in joint venture with Varaha Infra.

10:00 am Market Check: Benchmark indices are trading flat, cutting some of the losses from the opening session.

At 10:00 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 12.68 points or 0.04% at 33215.31, while the Nifty is down 1.70 points or 0.02% at 10238.50. The market breadth is in favour of advances as 1,161 shares advanced against a decline of 803 shares, while 90 shares were unchanged.

ONGC, Bharti Airtel and GAIL are the top gainers, while Adani Ports, ITC and Vedanta lost the most on both indices.

9:59 am Buzzing Stock: Dish TV shares rallied as much has 4 percent in morning Wednesday on positive sentiment after the deal to stake sale in direct-to-home arm by Airtel with Warburg Pincus.

Country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, would acquire up to a 20 percent equity stake in Bharti Telemedia, the direct-to-home subsidiary of Airtel, for approximately USD 350 million.

Under the deal, Bharti Airtel will sell 15 percent stake in Bharti Telemedia and the remaining 5 percent will be sold by another Bharti entity, it added. Post the deal, Airtel will own 80 percent stake in the DTH arm.

9:41 am Expert View: Retail inflation has surged to a fifteen month high in November. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Ananth Narayan, Market Expert shared his views and readings on the numbers.

Narayan said that inflation spike is a nasty shock.

He further said that there is a lot of negativity as well as uncertainty about the future which is not good for the market. In fact, can hardly see any silver lining as far as bond market is concerned, he added.

He also said that he will be data dependent on events such as Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and Gujarat elections.

9:30 am Buzzing Stock: Bharti Airtel shares gained nearly 2 percent intraday after the company decided to sell 20 percent stake in its DTH arm to US private equity firm

“…an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, will acquire up to a 20 percent equity stake in Bharti Telemedia, the direct-to-home subsidiary of Airtel, for approximately USD 350 million,” the country’s largest telecom operator said in its filing on Tuesday.

Under the deal, Bharti Airtel will sell 15 percent stake in Bharti Telemedia and the remaining 5 percent will be sold by another Bharti entity, it added.

Macquarie said given Airtel’s superior ARPUs and margins, the deal is valued at just 2 percent premium at EV/FY17 EBITDA. Valuations reflect Airtel’s strong recent performance, it added.

9:15 am Market Opens: Benchmark indices began the day on a lower note, with the Sensex falling nearly 100 points in the first minutes of trade before cutting those losses, while the Nifty was down by almost quarter of a percent.

At 09:17 hrs IST, the Sensex was down 91.65 points at 33136.34, while the Nifty fell 23.00 points or 0.22% at 10217.20. The market breadth was narrow as 409 shares advanced against a decline of 305 shares, while 43 shares were unchanged.

Dr Reddy’s Labs continued its uptrend from Tuesday, along with Bharti Airtel, which gained 1 percent. Both were top gainers on Sensex and Nifty, while ITC, SBI, Power Grid and Vedanta were the top losers.

Midcaps were trading weak, but fell lesser as compared to benchmarks, while Nifty PSU Bank index was down around half a percent.

The Indian rupee declined in the early trade on Wednesday. It has opened lower by 13 paise at 64.53 per dollar versus 64.40 Tuesday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “Strength in crude prices and stronger dollar ahead of Fed policy outcome will put pressure on rupee. Trading range would be 64.20-64.80.”

The dollar index rose to its highest level in a month and treasuries lost ground ahead of interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve due later today.

Asian shares were treading water in early trade on Wednesday as crude oil futures steadied after a selloff, while a widely expected interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve underpinned the dollar.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a few ticks higher in early trade.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index edged down slightly, shrugging off data that showed Japanese core machinery orders rose a more-than-expected 5 percent in October in a sign of resilient capital spending.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday amid growing optimism that Republican lawmakers would be able to revamp the corporate tax system. Wall Street also looked to the Federal Reserve as its two-day policy meeting kicked off.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 118.77 points to 24,504.80, boosted by gains in Boeing and Verizon. The index also posted intraday and closing record highs.
The S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent to close at 2,664.11, notching intraday and closing all-time highs, with telecommunications and financials outperforming.