Sensex gains 170 points, ICICI Bank and Infosys top performers

Equities witnessed a choppy trading session on Thursday with low investor confidence but critical parameters closed in the positive territory.

However, telecom stocks were under pressure after reports said the Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued notice to telecom operators to pay their revenue share dues within three months as directed by the Supreme Court.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 170 points higher at 40,286 while the Nifty 50 edged up by 30 points to 11,870. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed.

Among stocks, private lender ICICI Bank closed 2.5 per cent higher at Rs 498.05 per share while software major Infosys gained by 2 per cent to wind up at Rs 705.05 apiece.

The other prominent gainers were HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors, HCL Technologies, Cipla and Titan.

However, Vodafone Idea plummeted by over 20 per cent to wind up the day at Rs 2.95 per share after Vodafone CEO Nick Read said the second largest telecom company in India could head for liquidation unless New Delhi intervenes to ease the situation following the Supreme Court verdict.

Bharti Infratel too declined by 3.9 per cent to close at Rs 209.60 per share. The other prominent losers were IndusInd Bank, Zee Entertainment and metal majors Vedanta and Hindalco.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mixed after Chinese economic data showed the trade war between Beijing and Washington hitting growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Japan's Nikkei stock index dropped by 0.76 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng nudged lower by 0.93 per cent.

China's industrial production growth slowed sharply in October, rising by only 4.7 per cent year-on-year, while retail sales also slowed to fall short of expectations and investment growth hit a record low.

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