India's Sensex Rebounds From Six-Week Low as Telecom Stocks Rise

(Bloomberg) -- India's stock benchmark rebounded from a six-week low, paced by a rally in telecommunication shares in the last hour of trading. Bharti Airtel Ltd., the nation's biggest wireless carrier, surged to its highest close in a month.

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 1.1 percent to 32,949.21 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Mumbai as 26 of its 31 members advanced. It erased losses from Wednesday, when the central bank left rates unchanged -- as predicted by most economists -- and tweaked inflation forecasts higher. The measure had declined in six of the previous seven trading sessions as some investors locked in profits.

Bharti Airtel will benefit from “ongoing consolidation in the sector” and a probable increase in tariffs, HSBC Securities & Capital Markets (India) Pvt. said in an investor note on Dec. 5, maintaining its buy recommendation on the stock.

Read for more views on India telecom sector

The “market has been correcting for the past several sessions and it had to rebound as fundamentally nothing has really changed,” Hemant Kanawala, head of equities at Mumbai-based Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd., said by phone. The outlook for economic growth in India remains positive and that will help corporate profits, he said.

The NSE Nifty 50 Index rose 1.2 percent to 10,166.70 and all 19 sector indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by a gauge of telecom stocks. The India NSE Volatility Index retreated 5.4 percent, its first decline in six days.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ameya Karve in Mumbai at akarve@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Brian Lysaght

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