Airtel shares see sharp recovery, surge 8%

Surge in stock boosted market valuation of the company by Rs 10,873.1 crore to Rs 1,48,983.10 crore

Shares of Bharti Airtel Wednesday made a smart recovery, paring early losses and surged nearly 8 per cent even as the company reported its lowest quarterly profit in four years for the January-March period.

The stock which opened on a weak note later pared the losses and ended at Rs 372.70, up 7.87 per cent on BSE. During the day, it soared 10 per cent to Rs 380.05.

On NSE, shares of the company zoomed 7.96 per cent to end at Rs 372.75.

The stock was the top gainer on Sensex and Nifty.

The sharp surge in the stock boosted the market valuation of the company by Rs 10,873.1 crore to Rs 1,48,983.10 crore.

Steep rally in the stock market also helped buying in the stock.

In terms of volume, 16.35 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 2 crore shares changed hands on NSE during the day.

Country's largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel yesterday reported its lowest quarterly profit in four years as net earnings fell 72 per cent in January-March, hit by "sustained predatory pricing" by rival Reliance Jio.

The net profit in the quarter ended March 2017 stood at Rs 373.4 crore (or Rs 0.93 a share), nearly a fourth of the Rs 1,319.2 crore (or Rs 3.30 a share) notched in the year-ago period.

Bharti Airtel -- which has 372.4 million customers in 17 countries -- saw its total revenue decline by 12 per cent during the fourth quarter to Rs 21,934.6 crore from Rs 24,959.6 crore in the same period last fiscal.