Sensex Recovers on Buying in Banking Stocks

The 30-share Sensex recovered in the afternoon deals on the back of buying in banking, IT and pharma stocks.

The Nifty was trading above its crucial psychological level of 8,250 led by gains in blue-chip stocks like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma.

The IT stocks which were trading on a weak note also showcased a smart recovery and were trading on a positive note. The CNX IT index was up 0.7 per cent.

The Indian benchmark indices have been facing the heat of selling pressure since quite some time now. The Sensex has fallen over 1,800 points in the last nine trading sessions while the Nifty is down 900 points (10 per cent) from its peak in March 2015.

Meanwhile, the banking stocks were witnessing buying interest. The Bank Nifty was the top sectoral gainer, up 0.7 per cent. Frontline banking stocks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Yes Bank, State Bank of India and IndusInd Bank were gainers among the Nifty stocks.

On the other hand, FMCG stocks continued to reel under the selling pressure. The FMCG index was down 1.3 per cent.

Auto, metal and oil & gas stocks which were also facing the heat of selling pressure saw some relief and were trading marginally lower.

From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 26 stocks were advancing while 23 were declining.

At 1:02 p.m., the Sensex was up 10 points at 27,407 and the Nifty jumped 6 points to 8,292.