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Sensex, Nifty Hit Three-Week Highs As Banking Stocks Surge: 10 Things To Know
17 Oct 2019, 02:00 PM IST 
HDFC, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were the top contributors to the gain in Sensex
- At 1:55 pm, the Sensex traded 323.47 points - or 0.84 per cent - higher at 38,922.46 while the Nifty was up 78.30 points - or 0.68 per cent - at 11,542.30.
- Top percentage gainers on the 50-scrip index at the time were Yes Bank, Eicher Motors, IndusInd Bank, SBI and Asian Paints, trading between 1.93 per cent and 11.94 per cent higher.
- HDFC, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were the top contributors to the gain in Sensex.
- Analysts say optimism on corporate earnings and easing of concerns about the financial sector supported the markets.
- “Positive earnings from Federal Bank signal that stress in the banking sector is limited to few groups… Banking sector stocks are also rising ahead of the settlement of weekly Nifty Bank derivatives contracts,” AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, told NDTV.
- Federal Bank on Wednesday reported a 56.63 per cent jump in standalone net profit to Rs 416.70 crore in the second quarter of current financial year. Its gross non-performing assets - or bad loans - as a percentage of total loans stood at 3.07 per cent, as against 2.99 per cent in the previous quarter.
- The Nifty Bank index on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) - comprising shares of 12 major banks in the country - jumped as much as 1.79 per cent during the session.
- Analysts awaited more large cap companies to report their quarterly earnings for cues. Reliance Industries will report its financial results for the quarter ended September 30 on Friday.
- The next important levels for the Nifty are 11,700 and 12,150, Mr Prabhakar said. “The Nifty can make an all-time high led by ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries before Diwali.”
- The Sensex and Nifty were set to extend their rally to a fifth straight session. In the past four trading days, the Sensex had added 718.59 points (1.90 per cent) and the Nifty gained 237 points (2.11 per cent).