RIL gains lift Sensex up by 186 points

Mumbai: Market benchmark Sensex rose by 186 points on Tuesday, driven by substantial gains in Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank amid positive trends in global equities.

The 30-share index ended 185.51 points, or 0.46 per cent, higher at 40,469.70 with 11 of its constituents closing with gains.

The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange rose by 55.60 points, or 0.47 per cent, to end at 11,940.10.

Reliance Industries led the gains, rallying nearly 4 per cent to its life-time high of Rs 1,514.95 (intra-day) on BSE.

It became the first Indian company to hit the Rs 9.5 lakh-crore market capitalisation level.

Telecom stocks surged after two older players announced a hike in data and mobile telephony plans from next month. Bharti Airtel jumped to a fresh 52-week high before settling up 7.36 per cent on BSE.

Vodafone Idea rallied 34.68 per cent. The two players have announced a hike in mobile phone call and data charges from next month.

"The increase in tariffs will help the telecom industry players service huge debt on their balance sheets.

This would have a positive impact on the banking sector which fuelled a sharp rally in PSU banks," Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management.

Among banking stocks, Axis Bank rose by 3.43 per cent, SBI by 1.57 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 1.26 per cent and HDFC Bank by 1 per cent.

Among other gainers, PowerGrid jumped 2.44 per cent Tech Mahindra by 1.84 per cent and Infosys by 1 per cent.

On the other hand, Yes Bank dropped 2.66 per cent to emerge as the biggest Sensex loser, M&M fell by 2.19 per cent, and Tata Steel by 2.02 per cent. TCS, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp also declined.

Sectorally, BSE telecom rallied 8.52 per cent, followed by BSE energy, power, teck, oil and gas, utilities and bankex.