MUMBAI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel's shares are set to open between 5 to 7.5 percent higher on Thursday, a day after the Indian firm's proposed $24 billion deal with South Africa's MTN collapsed, removing worries over a likely impact on earnings, dealers said
"There was a general feeling Bharti was bending backwards too much to do the deal, now that uncertainty is over," said Ambareesh Baliga, vice president at Karvy Stock Broking.
Bharti shares are expected to trade between 440 rupees to 450 rupees ($9.19 to $9.39) compared with Wednesday's close of 418.5 rupees, traders said.
Bharti, valued at $33 billion, has fallen about 2.0 percent versus a 23 percent rise in the benchmark index since tie-up talks were announced in late May.
On Wednesday, talks between Bharti and MTN to create the world's third largest mobile operator collapsed for the second time in just over a year due to South Africa's reluctance to allow a flagship corporate to lose its national character..
Bharti would have borrowed at least $5 billion had the deal gone through without materially adding to its earnings in the short term thereby straining its finances.
"We expect Bharti to open strongly on Thursday and trade up significantly over 2-3 trading sessions," Macquarie analysts led by Shubham Majumder said in a research note.
"With the MTN deal overhang removed the market will return its focus to Bharti business fundamentals, which we see as compelling," said Macquaire, which has an outperform rating on Bharti. ($1=47.9 rupees) (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan and Anshuman Daga)