Sensex up for 2nd day, Nifty reclaims 9,100-mark as bank stocks gain

Mumbai: The stocks ended with gains for the second day as the benchmark Sensex rose over 89 points and the Nifty reclaimed the 9,100-mark Friday, driven by banking stocks, amid a firming trend overseas.

However, both posted their first weekly loss in three, with BSE slumping 227.59 points, or 0.76 percent, and the Nifty 52.05 points, or 0.56 percent.

Bank stocks caught the fancy, buoyed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's promise that the government, along with RBI, will find a solution to the rising NPA problem soon.

Bank of India went up 5.02 percent, Bank of Baroda 4.26 percent, Union Bank of India 3.29 percent and PNB 4.05 percent on the BSE. Shares of SBI rose 2.81 percent to Rs 276.05.

Private lenders too joined the party, with ICICI Bank up 2.90 percent and Axis Bank 0.23 percent.

The BSE Sensex resumed higher and advanced to 29,539.85 on foreign inflows, but slipped due to profit-booking to close up 89.24 points, or 0.30 percent, at 29,421.40.

The 50-share Nifty crossed the key 9,100-mark and closed at 9,108, up 21.70 points, or 0.24 percent. Intra-day, it touched a high of 9,133.55 and a low of 9,089.40.

A rising rupee added to the market buoyancy, which closed at 65.41.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "Banking stocks gained traction today on expectation of announcement of policy for quick settlement of NPAs shortly, which kept positive vibes in the market."

According to traders, global market turned mixed due to cautiousness following postponement of vote on US healthcare Bill to Friday.

The broader markets logged a mixed trend, with the small-cap surging and the mid-cap retreating.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net purchased equities worth Rs 1,094.44 crore while domestic investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 590.78 crore yesterday.

In the 30-share Sensex kitty, GAIL, ITC, RIL, Coal India, Wipro, Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, M&M and PowerGrid ended higher, with gains of up to 1.17 percent.

Investors awaited a delayed vote on US healthcare reform, which is seen as a proxy for the success of Donald Trump's pro-growth agenda, brokers said.

The BSE banking index gained 1.23 percent, followed by PSU 0.97 percent, realty 0.39 percent and consumber durables 0.37 percent.

On the economic front, India's current account deficit (CAD), at USD 7.9 billion for the third quarter of 2016-17, was higher than USD 7.1 billion in Q3 of 2015-16 and USD 3.4 billion in the preceding quarter.

Key Asian indices in Hong Kong, Japan, China, ruled firm.

Among European markets, the UK, Germany and France were trading lower in early deals.