Markets recover as banks, financial sector shines

Mumbai: Benchmark indices made an emphatic comeback on Wednesday after a six-session losing streak as investors piled into recently beaten down banking and financial stocks ahead of the earnings season.

The BSE Sensex surged 645.97 points or 1.72 percent to end at 38,177.95, while the broader NSE Nifty zoomed 186.90 points or 1.68 percent to 11,313.30. After a cautious start, the key indices gained momentum in afternoon trade, led by banking, financial and telecom counters. Sentiment got a further boost after the Cabinet hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for Central government employees, which is expected to prop up festive demand, analysts said.

"Going forward, the result season will dictate the market direction and investors are expecting some green shoots on account of festival demand and good monsoon," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE Telecom emerged as the biggest gainer with a jump of 4.92 percent, followed by banking (3.67 percent), finance (2.84 percent), metal (2.12 percent), realty (1.99 percent), basic materials (1.95 percent) and energy (0.98 percent). However, IT, consumer durables and teck lost up to 0.92 percent. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index shot up 1.38 percent, while the smallcap gauge gained 0.66 percent.

The rupee was trading 3 paise lower at 70.98 against the US dollar (intra-day). Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.08 percent to $58.77 per barrel. Asian markets were mixed following concerns over the US-China trade negotiations.

Top gainers

INDUSINDBK 1,309.50 5.52

INFRATEL 259.20 5.34

BHARTIARTL 359.40 5.23

SBIN 261.80 5.10

ULTRACEMCO 4,061.00 4.92

Top Losers

YESBANK 43.30 -5.15

HEROMOTOCO 2,599.00 -2.80

ZEEL 245.55 -2.37

TITAN 1,230.40 -2.27

HCLTECH 1,051.05 -2.17