HDFC Bank, RIL, L&T drive market rally for 6th day

MUMBAI: Benchmark BSE Sensex rallied further 333 points on Friday to extend its winning run to a sixth straight session driven by buying in index heavyweights HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries.

Shrugging off weak global market trends, the BSE Sensex jumped 333.35 points or 0.50 per cent to close at 66,598.91. During the day, it climbed 501.36 points or 0.75 per cent to 66,766.92.

The broader Nifty advanced 92.90 points or 0.47 per cent to settle at 19,819.95, rising for a sixth session in a row.

Nifty has gained 473 points or 3 per cent in the six trading sessions while Sensex rallied 1,434 points or 2.41 per cent.

On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark jumped 878.4 points or 1.34 per cent and the Nifty climbed 384.65 points or 1.97 per cent.

From the Sensex pack, NTPC rose the most by 2.65 per cent. Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Titan, Power Grid and State Bank of India were the major gainers.

ITC, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

“Benchmark indices ended the week just a few percentage points away from record highs ahead of the G20 Summit buoyed by good support from the Bank Nifty as well as the PSU & Infrastructure stocks,” S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities said.

Despite a deficient monsoon, the mood in the market was optimistic as PSU stocks across sectors exhibited positive investor appetite, Ranganathan said.

Banking shares gained after the RBI announced a phased withdrawal of the incremental CRR from Saturday which was imposed to absorb surplus liquidity following the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said that global markets stumbled as they processed August’s jobless claims data from the US and the rise in gas prices due to strikes in Australia, rekindling further slowdown.