Bharti Airtel drops; Credit Suisse latest to downgrade

Bharti Airtel fell as much as 3.44% to its lowest intraday level since October 2008, after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock, citing the prospect Reliance Infotel would enter the wireless voice market.

The unit of Reliance Industries was expected to only enter the Indian wireless data market, but Credit Suisse said Reliance Infotel would benefit from also entering the voice market, increasing competition in a segment in which Bharti Airtel is one of the top players.

Credit Suisse cut its ratings on the stock to "underperform" from "neutral", while cutting its target price to Rs 220.

Bharti's shares were last down 2.8% at Rs 251.30.

Yesterday, investment bank Morgan Stanley downgraded the telecom major's stock to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight'. Morgan Stanley also cut the target price for the stock to Rs 280 from Rs 366 earlier.

Bharti has seen a slew of downgrades including Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered following disappointing quarterly earnings.

Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel reported its 10th straight quarter of profit decline as competition squeezed margins despite gaining subscriber market share from some of its smaller rivals.
 
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