Sensex Ends 322 Points Higher As Banking Stocks Rebound

The BSE Sensex ended 322 points higher on Wednesday as banking stocks witnessed strong rebound following market regulator Sebi's notification on relaxed norms for stake purchase in distressed listed companies by lender, exempting them from making open offers for shareholders. The Banking sub-index of NSE, Nifty Bank, gained 1.33 per cent while the sub-index for state-owned banks settled with 2.10 per cent gains. Sebi's move is aimed at facilitating turnaround of listed companies in distress which will benefit their shareholders and lenders, analysts say.

The BSE Sensex closed 1.02 per cent or 321.86 points higher at 31,77.89 while the Nifty50 index settled 103.15 points higher at 9,897.30. Other than banking, FMCG, auto and metal stocks also boosted gains in the benchmark indices with their respective sub-indices gaining 2.51 per cent, 1.68 per cent and 1.72 per cent respectively.

Among Nifty stocks, Tech Mahindra was the top gainer, up 4.41 per cent followed by Tata Motors, Cipla, Bank of Baroda and Tata Power, which rose between 3-3.7 per cent. Meanwhile, Asian Paints was the top loser in Nifty, down 1.10 per cent. NTPC, Yes Bank, Power Grid, Infosys and Lupin were the other big losers in the Nifty falling between 0.6 per cent and 1 per cent.

Among the 51 stocks in Nifty, 37 shares ended with gains while 14 stocks closed with losses.

Meanwhile, mid cap and small cap shares outperformed the benchmark indices today. The BSE Mid cap and BSE Small cap indices closed 1.25 per cent and 1.3 per cent higher respectively.