After Market: Telecom stocks ring louder, Reliance at record high

Telecom stocks buzzed throughout the day as Vodafone Idea continued its rally, rising by 35 per cent on Tuesday. Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel followed with gains of 7 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.

PSU banks also continued their surge as Oriental Bank of Commerce soared 20 per cent. Other public sector banks also followed, rising 2-13 per cent. PSU Bank index was the biggest sectoral gainer on NSE, up 4 per cent.

BSE flagship Sensex added 185 points to 40,469.70 thanks to gains in select companies. NSE barometer Nifty advanced 56 points to end at 11,940.10.

“Market turned positive due to buoyancy from telecom stocks supported by tariff hike plans. Positive vibes also witnessed in PSU banks having exposure to distressed assets. Gains in pharma, energy and infra stocks pushed markets higher while losses in auto, metals and consumer stocks limited the gain. Fear of downgrade in FY20 earnings due to slow pace in consumption demand and industrial growth may consolidate the market in the near term,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Here is a lowdown of the movers and shakers of Tuesday’s session on Dalal Street:

Telecom stocks rally
Vodafone Idea soared 34.68 per cent on BSE to Rs 6.02 after it said it will raise tariffs from December 1. The stock has doubled in just three sessions after it reported record losses for the September quarter.

Bharti Airtel also gained 7.36 per cent on BSE to Rs 439.25. The company will also increase tariffs from December 1. The stock was the biggest gainer on 30-share Sensex.

Bharti Infratel followed these two and gained 10.96 per cent to Rs 251.65 on NSE.

RIL at record high
Reliance Industries hit its all-time high of Rs 1,514.95 on Tuesday. The scrip closed at Rs 1,509.80. During the day, RIL also crossed the Rs 9.5 lakh crore in market capitalisation, the first Indian company to achieve the feat.

Diamonds sold!
Rana Kapoor sold remaining 0.8 per cent stake in YES Bank, keeping a token 900 shares he once famously said were his “diamonds”. The scrip fell 2.66 per cent to Rs 64.15 on BSE.

BofAML downgrades NBCC
Shares of state-owned construction company NBCC fell 2.89 per cent to Rs 36.90 after Bank of America Merryl Lynch (BofAML) downgraded the stock and cut target price. BofAML cut ratings on NBCC to ‘underperform’ from ‘buy’. It also reduced the target price to Rs 33 from Rs 47.

SBI Life tanks
Shares of SBI Life dived 6.33 per cent to Rs 936.25 on BSE after Carlyle Group sold part of its stake in the company via block deals.

PSBs continue outperformance
PSU bank stocks continued their party after the Supreme Court decided in their favour on Essar Steel insolvency proceedings. Oriental Bank of Commerce jumped 20 per cent to Rs 62.85, Syndicate Bank soared 13.28 per cent to Rs 30.70 while Union Bank of India gained 9.41 per cent to Rs 59.90. All constituent of Nifty PSU Bank ended with gains, the index climbed 3.88 per cent to 2,589.

RIL and Airtel push Sensex up
Despite an unfavourable advance/decline ratio, Sensex ended with decent gains thanks to Reliance, Airtel and some banks. RIL alone added 157 points to Sensex followed by Bharti Airtel (55 points), Axis Bank (55 points) and HDFC Bank (52 points). IT giant TCS was the biggest drag, bleeding 44 points.