Banks, global cues fuel market rally for 2nd day

Banking stocks were the session's biggest gainers, with the PSU lender SBI emerging on the top in the Sensex pack.

After a sharp fall over the last few sessions, the Indian equities have seen some recovery in the past two sessions.

Trading sentiment got a massive lift in the wake of the government's announcement to borrow Rs 2.88 lakh crore in the April-September period of 2018-19, lower than Rs 3.72 lakh crore it had borrowed in the first half of the current fiscal.

Reports on renegotiation of tariffs between the United States and China eased trade war concerns and lifted global equities.

Also, short-covering by speculators ahead of March F&O expiry and fiscal deficit data to be released tomorrow added to the positivity.

Market participants also took note of the finance ministry's statement yesterday that said India is on track to doubling the size of its economy to USD 5 trillion by 2025, while asserting that the inflation target set by the Reserve Bank will not be breached.

The country is well poised to click a growth rate of 7-8 per cent and with focus on start-ups, MSMEs and infrastructure investment, it can step on to higher growth pedestal, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said.

"Indian markets started the day on a buoyant note as investor sentiment became positive on strong global cues, amid reports of trade negotiations between the United States and China. Investors' risk appetite improved as fears of a trade war eased...," Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager -Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, said.

After a strong opening, the BSE Sensex hit a high of 33,371.04, before closing at 33,174.39, up 107.98 points, or 0.33 per cent.

It had gained almost 470 points in the previous session.

The 50-share Nifty scaled a high of 10,207.90 intra-day but succumbed to profit-booking to finish at 10,184.15, up 53.50 points, or 0.53 per cent. All sectoral indices, led by metals, PSU, oil & gas, banking and healthcare stocks were in the green.

Major gainers were SBI, Asian Paints, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Kotak Bank, HUL, Maruti Suzuki and TCS ended in the positive zone.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2,017.95 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares of Rs 741.19 crore yesterday.

In the 30-share Sensex pack, SBI gained the most at 3.04 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank at 1.45 per cent.

Other winners were Tata Steel 1.30 per cent, Asian Paints 1.16 per cent, HUL 1.10 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.05 per cent,

TCS 1.02 per cent, Coal India 0.92 per cent, L&T 0.90 per cent, Power Grid 0.74 per cent, ONGC 0.53 per cent, NTPC 0.53

Sun Pharma 0.35 per cent, ITC 0.21 per cent and Adani Port 0.12 per cent.

However, Bharti Airtel fell 2.42 per cent followed by Bajaj auto 1.27 per cent, HDFC 0.58 per cent, Hero Motocorp 0.57 per cent, Wipro 0.49 per cent, M&M 0.37 per cent, Tata Motors 0.30 per cent, Infosys 0.13 per cent, RIL 0.12 per cent and Dr Reddy's 0.06 per cent.

Among the banking sector stocks, PNB topped the chart with a rise of 3.66 per cent, SBI 3.04 per cent, Bank of Baroda 1.73 per cent, IndusInd Bank 1.45 per cent, Kotak Bank 1.25 per cent, Axis Bank 0.94 per cent, ICICI Bank 0.91 per cent and Yes Bank 0.38 per cent.

The Nifty PSU Bank index was 0.78 per cent higher. Finance stocks such as M&M Financial Services rose by 4.30 per cent followed by Shriram Transport Finance 2.18 per cent, Bajaj Finance Ltd 1.74 per cent, Power Finance Corporation 1.73 per cent and LIC Housing Finance by 1.43 per cent.

Shares of Punj Lloyd surged 12.23 per cent to Rs 17.90 today after the company won a Rs 505.22 crore highway contract in Odisha from NHAI.

Among sectoral indices, metal jumped the most at 1.68 per cent, followed by PSU 1.66 per cent, oil & gas 1.06 per cent, bankex 0.93 per cent, healthcare 0.93 per cent, capital goods 0.90 per cent, power 0.71 per cent, infrastructure 0.69 per cent, FMCG 0.67 per cent, consumer durables 0.39 per cent, IT 0.38 per cent, realty 0.28 per cent and auto 0.22 per cent.

Broader markets too were in better shape, with the BSE small-cap index gaining 1.36 per cent and mid-cap spurting 1.06 per cent.

Crude oil prices were firm, supported by concerns that tensions in the Middle East could lead to supply disruptions, although further rises expected in US crude output loomed over markets. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD 65.76 a barrel, up 0.32 per cent, from their previous settlement. Brent crude futures were at USD 70.42 per barrel, up 0.43 per cent.

In the global markets, Asian share markets rose sharply today as reports of behind-the-scenes talks between the United States and China rekindled hopes that a damaging trade war could be averted.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei climbed 2.65 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.79 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.05 per cent and Singapore rose 0.74 per cent.

European indices were trading firm in their late morning session. Frankfurt's DAX rose 1.73 per cent, while Paris CAC 40 was higher 1.33 per cent. London's FTSE too edged higher 1.64 per cent.