Sensex Ends Day 600 Points Higher; Bharti Airtel Leads Gains

After opening the day in green, share markets in India witnessed a surge of positive trading activity throughout the day and ended the day on a strong note. Gains were seen across most sectors with stocks in the metals sector and stocks in the oil and gas sector, leading the gains.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 611 points (up 1.8%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 195 points (down 1.8%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up 0.8%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up 0.6%.

Asian stock markets finished in green. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up by 2% and the Shanghai Composite was up by 0.6%. The Nikkei 225 was up by 1.7%. Meanwhile, European markets were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.4%, The DAX, was up by 0.7% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.3%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 65.11 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 64.67 at the time of writing.

In news from stocks in the telecom sector. Airtel share price ended the day up by 4.6% after the telecom major announced plans to raise funds.

Airtel said that its board approved plans to raise Rs 165 billion through a mix of privately placed non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and a foreign currency bonds float for conducting treasury operations, including refinancing of debt and spectrum liabilities.

Over the past one year, India’s largest phone company has been raising funds by progressively reducing its stake in its listed tower unit, Bharti Infratel, to cut debt and free up cash and gird up for competition with Jio in the 4G segment. It has raised nearly Rs 12,089 crore through multiple tiny stake dilutions in its tower arm.

However, the company’s debt figure still remains high at over Rs 900 billion as of the quarter ended December 2017.

Companies in the debt-laden telecom sector have been witnessing a double whammy after the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd which brought tariffs to rock-bottom and hit the revenue streams of other operators.