Sensex ends 273 pts up

Mumbai: BSE benchmark Sensex spurted nearly 273 points on Tuesday, led by gains in Bharti Airtel, HUL and Reliance Industries amid a positive trend in global markets.

S upA sharp appreciation in the rupee against the US dollar added to the momentum, traders said.

After a highly volatile session, the BSE Sensex settled 272.51 points or 0.71 per cent higher at 38,900.80. It hit an intra-day high of 39,226.82 and a low of 38,542.11.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty advanced 82.75 points or 0.73 per cent to settle at 11,470.25. It touched a high of 11,553.55 and a low of 11,366.90 during the day.

Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 6 per cent, after the Supreme Court granted 10 years to telecom firms for paying the adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues to the government with certain conditions.

Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, NTPC and SBI were among the other gainers.

On the other hand, ONGC, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.

Markets ended on a positive note after an extremely volatile session on the back of the Supreme Court judgement on the telecom AGR dues, new margin norms and the reaction to the Q1 GDP numbers, said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Telecom and metal stock led the rally on the indices with support of select financials. Bargain hunting was witnessed in several mid-cap names as stock prices became attractive post the fall on Monday, he added.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended with significant gains, while Tokyo was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were largely positive in early deals.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.13 per cent higher at USD 45.79 per barrel.

In the forex market, the rupee settled at 72.87 against the US dollar, registering a surge of 73 paise over its previous close.