Sensex gains 182 points as telecom stocks surge

Tracking firm Asian peers and an overnight rise in US markets, the 30-share bellwether of the Bombay Stock Exchange surged by 181.81 points, or 1 per cent, to 17,833.54, its best closing in three weeks. The last time it closed at this level was on June 21.

In past two sessions, the bellwether added 362 points. During the week, the Sensex recorded a cumulative jump of 2.13 per cent.

The broader Nifty-50 index of the National Stock Exchange, too, added 1.04 per cent to close at 5,352.10 points.

"Market sentiment is upbeat after the IMF raised India's growth forecast. A recovery in global markets is also helping the local bourses to move northward," CNI Research CMD Kishore P Ostwal said.

Telecom stocks were the best performers, after Credit Suisse upgraded the frontline players. Bharti Airtel, zoomed up about 10 per cent, the most in the Sensex pack, to close at Rs 308.10. Anil Ambani-led RCOM, too, moved up 2.82 per cent and Idea Cellular jumped over 13 per cent.

IT bellwether Infosys, the heaviest scrip in the Sensex after RIL, surged 1.63 per cent on hopes of strong growth in the first quarter. Infosys will kick off India Inc's earning season on July 13. Wipro, another IT major, rose 1 per cent.

"The first quarter is expected to be another quarter of strong volume growth for the front-line IT companies, as the demand environment remains buoyant in the US and the emerging economies and on account of their limited exposure to Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain economies," Sharekhan said.

Aggressive buying was witnessed across the front and all the sectoral indices, except FMCG, on the BSE ended in green. Realty, technology, metal, banking and IT stocks were major gainers.

Realty major DLF spurted 4.73 per cent. Metal stocks were in demand following a price rise on the London Metal Exchange. Hindalco rose 2.52 per cent, Sterlite Industries 1.5 per cent, Tata Steel 2.4 per cent and Jindal Steel 1.5 per cent