Nifty hits 5100; Auto, Bankex up nearly 1.5%

Indian equity benchmarks moved up further led by support from banks, auto, capital goods and metals stocks. TCS, ONGC, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and ITC too were quite supportive.

The BSE benchmark rose 149.24 points to 16,817 and the NSE benchmark went up 46 points to 5,100 whereas the broader markets were flat.

The BSE Bankex led the rally, rising 1.5% on hopes of rate cut by the RBI after a flat industrial output for April. India's largest lender State Bank of India surged 1.8% while its rivals HDFC Bank moved up 1.5% and ICICI Bank gained 1.3%.

Country's largest engineering and construction company by sales Larsen & Toubro climbed 2%. Technology majors TCS and Infosys were up over 0.8%. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel rose 0.9%.

Auto stocks too gained on rate cut hopes. According to industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), car sales grew 2.78% in May, which was at the slowest pace in seven months due to high interest rates and petrol prices.

Top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors surged 2.6% while M&M, Maruti, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto were up 1-2%.

Most active shares on the BSE were Pipavav Defence (up 2%) with 34,48,299 equity shares, Pantaloon Retail (up 3.5%) with 15,93,065 and Reliance Infrastructure (down 0.4%) 5,09,320 shares.

In the second line shares, India Infoline, Jet Airways, ILandFS Transportation and Prestige Estate rallied 3-8% whereas Godrej Industries, Phoenix Mills, Cox & Kings, S Mobility and Dewan Housing slipped 3-4%.

The Indian rupee fell 30 paise to 56.04 as against the US dollar. On the global front, France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were flat.