Indian markets stocks ended higher today, though significantly off their day's highs. The Sensex rose 70 points to finish at 40,356, after rising to 40,650 at day's high. The broader Nifty settled 0.20% higher at 11,895. Among the Sensex stocks, Bharti Airtel surged 10% to be the top gainer. Among other gainers, SBI rose 5.5%, Kotak Bank 1.7% while Sun Pharma rose 1.5%.

Telecom stocks rose today amid hopes that the government would step in to help the ailing sector. On a conference call with analysts, Vodafone Idea Ltd Chief Executive Officer Ravinder Takkar said he saw no conflict in the government's ability to provide relief to telecoms companies, sending shares up 26%.

Vodafone Idea on Thursday reported the biggest quarterly loss in India's corporate history after making provisions for outstanding government dues. Vodafone Idea reported a consolidated net loss of ₹50,900 crore in the second quarter to September. Another telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of ₹23,045 crore in three months to September. Bharti said it made a provision of ₹28,450 crore.

Commenting on Bharti Airtel's results, Motilal Oswal said that Bharti Airtel, adjusted for the provision, reported better-than-expected Q2FY20 numbers with strong growth across key verticals and ₹8,930 crore EBITDA versus Street’s ₹8210 crore estimate.

Motilal Oswal has a buy rating on Bharti Airtel.

The Supreme Court today paved the way for ArcelorMittal to complete its $5.8 billion purchase of Essar Steel. The Supreme Court allowed Arcelor to pay creditors for Essar Steel India. This lifted many banking stocks with exposure to Essar Steel.

Global markets were mostly higher on hopes that the US and China are close to signing a trade deal. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday that Washington was getting close to a trade agreement with China. (With Agency Inputs)

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