Telecom stocks in focus, Idea ends with 10 per cent gains

Telecom stocks remained in focus on Friday as significant developments crowded the sector. Telecom stocks surged in the intraday trade to become the top gainers of the trading session. Telecom majors Idea, GTL Infra, GTL, Aksh Optical Fibre and Bharti Airtel surged over 5 per cent, while S&P BSE Telecom index maintained nearly 3 per cent gain during the day.

Idea gained over 10 per cent on the back of fund raising and merger plans with Vodafone. RCom surged by over 7 per cent on the bourses following China Development Bank’s withdrawal of insolvency filing. GTL Infra surged on the bourses as news regarding the company’s merger plans with Aircel spread in the markets. The company is also hoping to receive Rs. 2,000 crore from the cancellation of 3,987 tenancies to aid its debt reduction. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel charted gains on the back of its deal with Transmission Holding’s handset brand itel to launch smartphones with a cash back offer.

The S&P BSE Telecom index closed at 1,718.79 level, up by 2.75 per cent. Meanwhile, S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,153.85 level, higher by 0.54 per cent and NSE Nifty 50 ended at 10,558.85 level, higher by 0.51 per cent, respectively.

Among the top stocks of the telecom sector, Idea closed with again of 10.67 per cent, GTL Infra closed at Rs. 7.46 per share, up by 6.27 per cent and GTL closed at Rs. 18.65 per share, higher by 5.07 per cent on BSE. Aksh Optical Fibre, Bhati Airtel, Tejas Net and RCom also ended with gains of 4.97 per cent, 3.36 per cent, 3.32 per cent and 2.10 per cent, respectively.