Sensex ends 188 points higher; Ranbaxy up 7 per cent, Bharti dips 5 per cent

The benchmark Sensex has seen huge buying interest in the last one hour of trade on the back of short covering and positive European cues. The rally across all sectors pushed the Nifty 75 points higher and the Sensex 270 points higher during the day but some profit booking was seen in last minute. Auto, technology, metal, pharma, banking and realty were the major gaining sectors; respective indices went up 1-1.5%.

European markets like DAX and FTSE were trading 1.2% higher, and CAC was up 0.8%, at the time of closing of Indian equities. Barclays results for 2009 were better-than-expectations; its net profit increased to £ 9.39 billion from £ 4.38 billion in 2008. The stock surged over 6%.

The US index futures were up 0.3-0.5%. Most of Asian markets barring Nikkei and Kospi were shut today; both those indices ended 0.2-0.5% higher.

However, Bharti Airtel remained top loser for the second consecutive day, fell 5.4%. The stock had fallen over 9% on Monday post the company started talks with Zain Telecom to buy its Africa's assets for USD 10.7 billion. Experts feel this deal looks expensive.

Dipan Mehta, Member of BSE & NSE said Bharti-Zain deal was far less risky than the earlier one with MTN which was far larger transaction and was quite complex. "At present what investors is fearing is the uncertainty as regards the financing plan. As and when there is more clarity on the entire deal as well as what it brings on the table for Bharti you will see some amount of investment buying coming in. No doubt it is a bit of a risky step for the company but this particular deal is far less risky than the earlier one with MTN which was far larger transaction and was quite complex. So although it will be negative for the short-term I think medium to long term investors cannot ignore Bharti at these prices."

HDFC Bank, Hero Honda, Axis Bank and Unitech were the other losers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,226.68, up 188.33 points or 1.17% and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 1.12% or 53.50 points to 4,855.75. The Nifty February future ended with huge premium of 34 points, as per provisional data. However, the broader indices gained just 0.5-0.6%.