Sensex and Nifty closed at their highest levels in nearly three months today, boosted by strong gains in banking stocks and market heavyweight Reliance Industries. The BSE benchmark index Sensex surged 256 points to end at 34,969 while the NSE Nifty finished at 10,692, up 74 points. Reliance Industries, which is expected to report a higher quarterly profit later in the day, rose over 2 per cent. Among the banking stocks, Axis Bank surged 9 per cent while SBI gained 4 per cent. ICICI Bank also rose over 3 per cent. Positive management guidance helped Axis Bank shares gain on Friday, despite the bank reporting its first ever quarterly loss the previous day. Earlier, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank had reported strong growth in their earnings.
"A larger part of the financial story is that banks have come up with interesting set of numbers, so market has started buying these companies... Earnings outlook looks quite different from what it was in the last quarter," said Deven Choksey, founder of KR Choksey Investment Managers.
IT stocks lost some ground today with the BSE Teck index falling 0.70 per cent.
Maruti Suzuki posted a 10 per cent rise in net profit for the March quarter but missed analysts' expectations due to higher tax expenses, sending its shares 2 per cent lower.
Global credit rating agency Fitch on Friday affirmed India's sovereign rating at 'BBB-' with 'stable' outlook, saying that the country's medium-term growth potential is strong. A 'BBB-' rating indicates the lowest investment grade.
Global markets were higher today, lifted by strong share price gains for tech giants such as Amazon and Facebook and growing hopes of a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula after a ground-breaking meeting of North and South Korean leaders.
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