Shares of India’s biggest telecom operators Bharti Airtel Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd opened weaker as TRAI has imposed a fine of $455 million on them.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had on Friday recommended Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea to be fined a combined Rs 3,050 crore ($455 million), stating they were denying new entrant Reliance Jio sufficient interconnection points.
Airtel and Vodafone India were fined for 21 zones each, while Idea was fined for 19 zones.
Bharti Airtel fell as much as 1.76 per cent, while Idea Cellular dropped as much as 2.5 per cent.
Idea Cellular is scheduled to report Sept-quarter earnings later in the day.
Mindtree hits 2-1/2-year low
Shares of IT services and consulting company Mindtree hit near 2-1/2-year low due to decline in second quarter net profit.
The stock fell as much as 5.7 per cent, its lowest level since July 22, 2014.
The company had posted 37 per cent fall in Sep-quarter consolidated profit on Friday.
Volatile macroeconomic environment has resulted in slower ramp-ups and cautious spending in a few large clients across its verticals, Mindtree said.
The shares posted biggest its intraday percentage loss in nearly a month.
Nifty IT index fell as much as 1.49 per cent, with Infosys Ltd down 0.3 per cent and Tata Consultancy Services down 0.9 per cent.
Wipro falls to 1-week low
Shares of Wipro fell to one-week low as the company’s third-quarter net net profit dropped 7.6 per cent.
Shares of software company Wipro Ltd dropped as much as 4.3 per cent to Rs 477.60.
Net profit during the quarter fell 7.6 per cent to Rs 2,070 crore but beat analysts’ expectations of Rs 1,972 crore, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The company expects revenues from IT service business to rise by 0-2 per cent in its December-quarter.
Brokerage firm Jefferies has cut the company’s target price to Rs 500 from Rs 570 stating that despite incorporating US-based Appirio, the company’s revenue guidance from IT services for next quarter is weak.
The company has a median target price of Rs 539.87.
The stock is down around 10.8 per cent this year, as of Friday’s close.