Sensex Rises Nearly 400 Points, Nifty Reclaims 15,800 Led By Banking Shares

The Indian equity benchmarks moved higher on Tuesday led by gains in ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening taking cues from strong global markets and extended gains in afternoon trading paced by buying interest in banking and financial services shares. The Sensex rose as much as 434 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 15,816.

The Sensex advanced 397 points or 0.76 per cent to close at 52,770 and Nifty 50 index climbed 120 points to settle at 15,812.

"We witnessed a lackluster movement in the market between 15,750-15,800. 15,800 will be a keep resistance level. If the market breaches and sustains above the level, we can witness a positive movement in the Nifty till level of 16,100-16,150," Gaurav Garg, head of research at CapitalVia Global Research told NDTV.

Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Bank Index's over 1 per cent gain. Nifty Financial Services, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Nifty Pharma indices also rose between 0.7-1.4 per cent.

On the other hand, IT shares witnessed selling pressure a day ahead of earnings of IT major Infosys. Media and FMCG shares also faced a mild selling pressure.

Smallcap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 1 per cent while Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.2 per cent.

ICICI Bank was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 3 per cent to close at Rs 665. HDFC, Grasim Industries, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, SBI Life, ONGC, NTPC and HDFC Life also rose between 1,5-2.7 per cent.

On the flipside, Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Labs, HCL technologies, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consumer Products, Hindustan Unilever, Eicher Motors, Infosys and Asian Paints fell between 0.2-2 per cent.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,830 shares ended higher while 1,388 closed lower on the BSE.