BSE Sensex rises nearly 1 pct; telcos rebound

By Ami Shah

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex climbed nearly 1 percent on Thursday, with bruised telecom stocks among the gainers, as bargain hunters stepped in toward the close after the market fell more than 2 percent.

Bharti Airtel, the country's top mobile operator, and rival Reliance Communications rose 4.5 percent and 5.3 percent respectively after they had slumped in the past one month.

"I think these stocks are a good buy from a medium to long-term perspective," said K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management services at Globe Capital. "Negatives were more than priced in the sharp fall we saw."

The stocks were also helped by an Economic Times report that the telecom ministry would seek a fast-track approval from the finance ministry to cut the annual licence fee paid by large

operators by up to a third.

Bharti and Reliance Communications are still down nearly 24 percent and more than 42 percent respectively since the start of October, on disappointing September quarter results and a pricing war.

The 30-share BSE index closed up 0.95 percent, or 151.77 points, at 16,063.90, after falling as much as 2.2 percent earlier in the day. Twenty-three of its components gained.

The sentiment was also helped after data from the finance ministry showed April-October direct tax receipts rose 3.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.73 trillion rupees ($36.8 billion).