Sensex, Nifty open in red; Bharti Airtel shares gains 2%

Indian markets open in red for second consecutive day amid weak global cues and post Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meet.

At 9.21 am, Sensex was trading at 29,829.72 down 97 points or 0.33%, while Nifty 50 was trading at 9,223.30 lower 38 points or 0.42%.

RBI maintained its nuetral stance in its first bi-monthly monetary policy for financial year 2017-18. 

HDFC Securities said, “Indian equity markets are likely to open on a muted note, weighed down by geopolitical concerns. Financial, FMCG, and Pharma sectors are expected to trade in negative zone whereas Realty sector is expected to trade in positive zone. Crucial support for Nifty is at 9215 level, while strong immediate resistance is at 9370.”

While Motilal Oswal said, “Global cues are a bit soft on back of news flow regarding US attacks on Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons. We will see markets opening lower on account of same. Should there be escalation of geopolitical risk, it could impact mar- kets given that valuations remain rich.”

Among top gainers on BSE, Bharti Airtel took the lead by trading at Rs 348.20 a piece above 1.96%, followed by other gainers like Axis Bank (Rs 512.30 a piece), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 6,320.25 a piece), ONGC (Rs 187.80 a piece), Hero MotoCorp (Rs 3,217.70 a piece) and ICICI Bank (Rs 281.75 a piece) trading in the range of 0.30% - 0.70%.

Bharti Airtel on Thursday said that it doubled its mobile network deployment with 180,000 mobile sites in the last two years, which is same as total sites deployed in the first 20 years of operations.

Losers involved Sun Pharma at Rs 669.40 a piece below 2.49%, followed by Adani Ports at Rs 350 a piece (1.69%), Power Grid at Rs 195.05 a piece (1.09%), Coal India at Rs 283.95 a piece (0.92%) and Tata Motors at Rs 469.60 a piece (0.73%).

Reliance Industries shares tumbled over 15 points or 1.07% on BSE, trading at Rs 1,428 a piece after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday asked Jio to withdraw its Summer Surprise offer along with reducing its extension of Jio Prime membership for 15 days in April completely. 

On Nifty, the Realty index was sole gainer trading at 230.05 above 2.10 points or 0.92%, on RBI allowing banks to invest in REITs and InvITs. 

Mridul Mehta, Executive Vice President, ICICI Securities Ltd said, “"This is an extremely positive step by RBI and opens up a new large set of investors who can invest in InvITs and REITs, in addition to Insurance companies and MFs. We have seen healthy investor interest in InvITs and REITs, and the RBI move  will provide a big boost for infrastructure and real estate sectors.”

Out 10 stocks, seven surged namely Phoenix Mills, Delta Corp, DLF, Sobha Limited, HDIL, Indiabulls Real Estate, Oberoi Realty in the range of 0.25% - 3%.

Meanwhile INR has appreciated against USD. The rupee was trading at 64,485 down 0.127 paisa or 0.20% against dollar