ADVERTISEMENT

Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains; L&T, ICICI Bank Top Gainers

Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains; L&T, ICICI Bank Top Gainers

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes extended gains in afternoon deals on the back of buying in heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank. The Sensex rose as much as 339 points from the day's lowest level to hit an intraday high of 41,622 and the NSE Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 12,250. The benchmarks were on track to register second straight day of gains.

As of 1:39 pm, the Sensex traded 230 points or 0.55 per cent higher at 41,616 and the NSE Nifty 50 index advanced 0.6 per cent or 71 points to 12,252.

Analysts say the markets are likely to remain volatile until the government presents the Union Budget on February 1, when it may also unveil more measures to lift growth.

Sixteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Capital Goods index's 1.7 per cent gain. S&P BSE Metal, Consumer Durables, Bankex, Auto, Industrials and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services indexes also rose between 0.9-1.3 per cent each.

On the other hand, S&P BSE Telecom index was top loser, down 1.2 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 0.87 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index climbed 0.55 per cent.

Yes Bank was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, stock rose 6.5 per cent to Rs 43.60. Coal India, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, JSW Steel, Britannia Industries, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the gainers, up 1.6-2.6 per cent each.

On the flipside, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Cipla, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki were among the laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,402 shares were trading higher while 965 were trading lower on the BSE.