Asian stocks are lower today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Shanghai Composite is off 0.4% while the Hang Seng is down 1.1%. The Nikkei 225 is trading down by 0.2%. US stocks jumped on Thursday, giving the Nasdaq its biggest daily gain since March, as Microsoft’s upbeat earnings spurred a rebound in technology names and investors snapped up oversold shares.

Back home, India share markets have opened the day on a negative note. The BSE Sensex is trading down by 216 points while the NSE Nifty is trading down by 77 points. The BSE Mid Cap index opened the down by 0.2% while BSE Small Cap index opened the day down by 0.5%.

Except for healthcare stocks, all sectoral indices have opened the day in red with power stocks and metal stocks witnessing maximum selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 73.43 against the US$.

Yes, bank share price plunged over 7% in the opening session after its September quarter profit dropped 3.8% year-on-year to Rs 9.6 billion for September quarter due to onetime hit on mark-to-market (MTM) investments in corporate bonds and higher provisions on loans to a corporate client.

Telecom stocks opened the day on a mixed note with GTL Ltd and AGC Networks leading the losers. Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported a surprise net profit in the July-September quarter aided by a one-time deferred tax gain without which it would’ve suffered a loss.

The company’s PAT fell 65.4% to Rs 1188 million in Q2FY19 over Rs 3430 million in the same period last year. India’s second-largest telecom network’s net profit rose to Rs 1.2 billion in the three months ended September from Rs 1 billion in the preceding quarter. Bharti Airtel posted a profit because of a deferred tax gain of Rs 26.3 billion in the reporting quarter.

Consolidated revenue of the company slipped to Rs 204.2 billion against Rs 217.8 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue dipped 6.2% on account of sustained pricing pressure in India mobile segment.