Sensex opens 170 points higher, Airtel top gainer

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Mumbai: Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Tuesday, however, 33 of the Nifty50 stocks were trading in the red and only 16 advanced during the early trade.

Telecom scrips continued its strong performance despite the two biggest telecom companies -- Bharti Airtel and Vodafone -- announcing tariff hikes.

While Airtel surged over 5 per cent on the NSE, Vodafone Idea (VIL)advanced nearly 18 per cent to Rs 5.25 apiece. On Monday, VIL closed with 25 per cent gain on a possible government led revival.

At 9.43 a.m., Sensex was trading higher by 45.22 points at 40,329.41 and the Nifty was up 11.50 points at 11,896.

Foreign Portfolio Investors sold Rs 270.66 crore worth of stocks on Monday and the Domestic Investors bought scrips worth Rs 309.45 crore.

Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra and Axis Bank were the top gainers during the early trade. Index-heavyweights like TCS, Hindustan Unilever and Vedanta fell the most.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note amid concerns over the state of trade talks between US and China. The US markets closed slightly higher on Monday.