Bank Nifty hits record high; up 3% at 13,469

FIIs have been aggressively buying into bank shares

Banking shares which are a favourites of foreign institutional investors have seen a sudden surge in today's trade with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) bank share index Bank Nifty hitting a record intra-day high of 13,470 so far.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been aggressively buying into ICICI Bank; their holdings in the leading private sector lender touched a six-year high of 39.85 per cent in the quarter ended March.

Banks which are a proxy to the economy seem to garner investor interest after probability of BJP-led NDA alliance, known to be business-friendly, emerging victorious in the General Elections, results of which will be announced on May 16.

"Market is behaving as if BJP has won. Most of the private sector banks are near their all-time highs. ICICI Bank has hit 6-year high today.  I see 8-15% gain in the Bank Nifty if things don't disappoint from here," said A K Prabhakar, Independent Market Analyst.

At 12:25PM the Bank Nifty was up 3.3% at 13,469, the highest gain since April 9.

ICICI Bank has been the main contributor to the Bank Nifty which is nearing its all-time high of Rs 1,465 hit on January 14, 2008. Currently the private banking major is up 3.9% at Rs 1,340 on NSE.

Among other shares in the Bank Nifty, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, SBI, Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, PNB and Axis Bank were up 2-5% each.