Sensex, Nifty close little changed; telecom stocks surge

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex and Nifty ended little changed on the first trading day of 2015 as gains in telecom stocks such as Bharti Airtel on news of spectrum pricing were offset by profit-taking in some blue-chips.

Trading volume was low as most investors were away for New Year holidays.

The benchmark BSE Sensex gained 0.03 percent to 27,507.54, while the broader Nifty ended 0.02 percent higher at 8,284.

Telecom stocks rose after the industry regulator on Wednesday put the 3G spectrum base rate at a 19 percent discount to 2010 auction prices.

Bharti Airtel closed up 2.9 percent, while Idea Cellular gained 3.6 percent.

 

However, some blue-chips such as NTPC fell 1.1 percent on profit taking. The stock gained 3.4 percent in the three sessions till Wednesday.

(Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)