Bharti Airtel stock hits fresh 52-week high post Q2 earnings

The Bharti Airtel stock hit a fresh 52-week high on Wednesday a day after the country's largest telco reported a whopping 77 percent fall in Q2 net profit from a year earlier, as it struggled with the fierce price war unleashed by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio.

At 10: 32 am, the stock was trading 7.10 percent or 35 points higher at 533 level on the BSE. The stock hit a fresh 52 week high of 536.05. It is up 67.96 percent on an yearly basis and has risen 75 percent since the beginning of this year.

Airtel net profit for the second quarter fell to a mere Rs 343 crore from a robust Rs 1,461 crore in the July- September quarter of 2016-17. Airtel's second quarter net profit is its smallest in 19 quarters and its sixth consecutive drop in quarterly profit.  Net profit came above average estimate of  Rs 303 crore in Q2.

The firm was approached by global investors interested in a controlling stake in mobile masts unit Bharti Infratel, Airtel said on Tuesday

Indian telecom operators have been hit by the entry of Reliance Jio which has been offering free voice calls and data at dirt-cheap prices. The sector faces further price pressure after Trai recently cut the fee operators pay each other for calls made from one network to another.