Sensex strong, Nifty inches towards 8400 after banks’ earnings
Equity benchmarks rallied further in afternoon trade, with the Nifty inching towards 8400 as banks extended gains after stable earnings from South Indian Bank and IndusInd Bank.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 226.27 points or 0.84 percent at 27125.83 and the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 84.40 points or 1.02 percent to 8373. The broader markets also gained 1 percent.
South Indian Bank gained nearly 2 percent and IndusInd Bank surged 5.5 percent on stable earnings growth as well as asset quality despite currency demonetisation.
Nifty Bank rose 1 percent as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI were up 1.5-2 percent. Housing finance company HDFC was up 1 percent.
Metals stocks remained strong after China said it would be closing all of its medium frequency furnaces by June 2017. These furnaces contribute close to 9 percent to China’s total steel capacity. Hindalco surged 6.4 percent and Tata Steel gained 4 percent.
TCS and Infosys were moderately under pressure ahead of US president-elect Donald Trump’s first press conference and third quarter earnings later this week.
