India's Sensex climbs 200 points; Telecom shares lead rally

India's benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices on Monday hit an all-time high after better-than-expected macroeconomic data boosted investor confidence.

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Traders walks infront of an electronic board in Mumbai, India. Reuters

India's benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices on Monday hit an all-time high after better-than-expected macroeconomic data boosted investor confidence.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.62 percent at 32,633 while the broader NSE Nifty rose 0.62 percent to 10,230. Sensex touched a record high of 32,687.32 points while 50-stock Nifty index touched its life-time high of 10,242.95 earlier in the session.

India's merchandise exports grew 25.7 percent, the fastest pace in six months in September to $28.60 billion, helping cut the trade deficit to a seven-month low to $8.90 billion.

Among the top Sensex gainers: Bharti Airtel rose 5 percent, Mahindra and Mahindra added 3 percent, Hindustan Unilever gained 2.6 percent while Tata Motors advanced 2.9 percent.

The S&P BSE Telecom index rose 4.2 percent, led by TTML, which was up 10 percent, Idea 5 percent, Bharti Airtel 5 percent and Tata Communications 4 percent.

Bharat Financial Inclusion gained 2 percent after the board of IndusInd Bank approved the merger between the bank and microfinance firm Bharat Financial Inclusion.

Visa Steel jumped 20 percent after the central bank raised foreign investment limit in the company to 74 percent.

Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declined.

Stocks in Asia rose after U.S. inflation data underpinned optimism that the global growth is continuing at a steady pace.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained for a fifth day running to its highest level since late 2007.

Underlying inflation in the United States was muted at 0.2 percent in August, data showed on Friday.

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