Shares of MTNL were up 5 percent intraday as reports suggested that the state-run company will not be privatised but will be turned around. According to a media report telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the loss-making state-owned telecom service providers, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and MTNL will not be privatised instead they will be turned around.

He was quoted as saying ‘experience in turning around loss-making PSUs and has done so with Coal India when he was coal minister during the Vajpayee government’s regime’. However, he did not provide any fixed time-frame or share any strategy but added that he was closely monitoring them.

The Nifty is struggling below the 8000-level. The 50-share index is up 5.70 points at 7974.55 and the Sensex is up 45.89 points at 26672.21. About 1434 shares have advanced, 510 shares declined, and 48 shares are unchanged.

Both Sun Pharma and TCS are up 3 percent each. BHEL, Wipro and Infosys are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Hindalco, Tata Power, Bharti Airtel and Coal India. The dollar hit a four-year peak against a basket of currencies in early Asian trade on Monday, bolstering Japanese shares, but other Asian shares shrugged off Friday’s Wall Street rebound in the face of political unrest in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong shares dropped 2.3 percent to three-month lows in the worst unrest since China took back control of the former British colony two decades ago. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.7 percent, hitting its lowest level since mid-May. Even the usually calm Hong Kong-dollar, which is pegged to a narrow band against the US dollar, slipped 0.1 percent to 7.761 against the greenback, its lowest level since March, as the street clashes affected some banks’ operations.

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