Sensex ends higher but off day’s high, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea shares surge

Indian markets stocks ended higher today, though significantly off their day’s highs. The Sensex rose 70 points to finish at 40,356, after rising to 40,650 at day’s high. The broader Nifty settled 0.20% higher at 11,895. Among the Sensex stocks, Bharti Airtel surged 10% to be the top gainer. Among other gainers, SBI rose 5.5%, Kotak Bank 1.7% while Sun Pharma rose 1.5%.

Telecom stocks rose today amid hopes that the government would step in to help the ailing sector. On a conference call with analysts, Vodafone Idea Ltd Chief Executive Officer Ravinder Takkar said he saw no conflict in the government’s ability to provide relief to telecoms companies, sending shares up 26%.