Sensex surges 718 points amidst strong performance from banking stocks

Market benchmark Sensex Monday rallied over 718 points to end above the 34,000-level buoyed by heavy buying mainly in financials like ICICI Bank and SBI coupled with revived optimism relating to RBI’s move to ease liquidity crunch. The broader 50-share Nifty too rose over 220 points to close above 10,250.

Among the Sensex constituents, ICICI Bank was the biggest gainer with 11% jump, followed by State Bank of India, which rose 8.04%. The index heavyweight ICICI Bank contributed over 200 points to the Sensex gains. The country’s top private sector lender ICICI Bank swung into profit in the second quarter of this ongoing fiscal. The bank had reported a net loss of Rs 119.55 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal. On year-on-year basis, ICICI Bank, however, reported a 42% drop in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1,204.62 crore in the September 2018 quarter.

Other top Sensex gainers were Adani Ports, L&T, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and TCS, rising up to 7.33%. Market sentiments were further revived by the Reserve Bank’s decision to pump in Rs 40,000 crore into the system in November through purchase of government securities, with an aim to tackle liquidity crunch. “Markets bounced out of extremely poor sentiment and oversold conditions. A good sign short term as we may have started a short-covering rally in equities,” said Rohit Srivastava, Fund Manager – PMS, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

“The rise was broad-based which is a good sign and weak sectors like PSU banks were strong performers. Given the double bottom in the bank nifty, it appears the trend may continue in the near term,” he added.Snapping its two-day losing streak, the 30-share index ended 718.09 points, or 2.15%, higher at 34,067.40. It had opened 173.33 points, or 0.52%, higher at 33,522.64. The NSE Nifty too surged 220.85 points, or 2.20%, to reclaim the 10,250 mark. It had opened 44.25 points, or 0.44%, higher at 10,074.25.

Bucking the uptrend in a majority of Sensex constituents, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank and Bharti Airtel fell up to 2.26%. Meanwhile, the rupee was trading flat at 73.43 against the US currency. According to Friday’s provisional data, foreign funds sold shares worth a net of Rs 1,356.66, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 1,875.89 crore. Dr Reddy’s too surged 5.29% to Rs 2,531.65 on the NSE after the company reported a 77% jump in profit-after-tax for the quarter ended September 30 at Rs 504 crore against Rs 387.6 crore in the second quarter of FY18.Oil prices fell on Monday. Brent crude oil futures were down 31 cents at USD 77.31 a barrel, while WTI Futures fell by 28 cents to USD 67.31.

Meanwhile, concern over China’s slowing economy kept Asian stocks subdued. Shanghai Composite ended 2.2% lower, while Hang Seng Index rose 0.4%. Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.2% down.European shares climbed on strong earnings DAX was up 0.7% while STOXX50E rose 0.5%.