The Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower reversing recent gains as telecom stocks such as Bharti Airtel Ltd slumped after Reliance Industries Ltd said it would roll out a fourth-generation network with free voice calls and rock-bottom data prices.
Domestic sentiment was also hit as t he economy decelerated to its slowest in six quarters in the April-June period of 2016-17 raising fresh concerns over the robustness of the recovery.
But the negative sentiment was offset by
The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI jumped to 52.6 in August from 51.8 in July as “Indian manufacturers enjoyed a solid improvement in operating conditions” last month.
Telecom stocks such as Bharti Airtel Ltd slumped after Reliance Industries Ltd said it would roll out a fourth-generation network with free voice calls and rock-bottom data prices.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended down 28.69 points or 0.1 per cent at 28,423.48 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 11.55 points or 0.13 per cent at 8,774.65.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index fell the most by 2.00 per cent, TECk 1.00 per cent, power 0.91 per cent and oil & gas 0.81 per cent. On the other hand, auto index was up 0.35 per cent, metal 0.32 per cent, FMCG 0.21 per cent and banking 0.09 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were GAIL (+2.06%), Coal India (+1.32%), ICICI Bank (+1.24%), Lupin (+1.21%) and Tata Motors (+1.15%), while the major losers were Bharti Airtel (6.37%), Reliance (-2.73%), Adani Ports (-1.43%), Wipro (-1.33%) and HDFC Bank (-0.81%).
Shares of Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel plunged up to 9 per cent today after RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced free voice calling and cheaper data tariffs for Jio customers.
“This is a sectoral issue but it is definitely dragging down the index a bit,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
“Jio comments could see a tariff change from other companies and it's safe to say that investors are cautious of the telecom sector at the moment.”
Cement stocks declined after the country's competition watchdog imposed a fine of Rs 6,320 crore ($943.57 million) on 10 cement companies for price fixing.
Global markets
Gains in Europe helped pull world shares out their longest losing streak of the year on Thursday, as oil prices ticked up before key US jobs data.
Asian shares dipped on Thursday after lower crude oil prices dented Wall Street and a pair of Chinese manufacturing surveys did little to inspire investors as markets waited to see if US employment data could put the Federal Reserve on track to hike interest rates.
Crude oil futures took back some lost ground after skidding on news of a large weekly build in US crude and distillate stockpiles and a smaller-than-expected drawdown in gasoline.