Nifty inches closer to 6000, bank shares build on gains

Moneycontrol Bureau

Key equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty leapt rallied in early trade Tuesday, with brokers attributing the surge as sentiment-driven more than anything else. The Sensex climbed to a 20-month high and the Nifty to a 23-month high.

Brokers said the market is betting that the Banking Laws Amendment Bill, a key policy reform, will be passed in Parliament today. Overall, the Winter Session of the Parliament has turned out to be better than expected with the ruling UPA-coalition managing to push through the contentious retail FDI Bill, and a few other important Bills like anti-money laundering and debt recovery.

For a change, investors turned their attention back to large cap stocks, after having chased second line shares over the last few days.

The 30-share Sensex was up 182 points at 19,592 and the 50-share Nifty was up 50 points at 5959.

Market breadth on the NSE was impressive, with nearly 9 stocks rising for every 4 that fell.

Healthcare, banking and FMCG shares figured among the key gainers in early trade. Banking shares continued to build on Monday’s gains in the hope of the Banking Laws Bill being passed.

Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank led gainers in the frontline space, climbing 2-4 percent.

Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tata Motors figured among the laggards, trading flat.

Jet Airways, Sintex, SpiceJet, Opto Circuits and Greaves Cotton led midcap gainers, up 2-3 percent.