Banking shares gain; Nifty PSU Bank index up 4%

Banking shares mainly public sector undertakings (PSU) have moved higher by up to 5% on the bourses. State Bank of India (SBI), Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Union Bank of India were up between 4%-5% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

At 02:17 PM, Nifty PSU Bank index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices was up 4.1% as compared to 2.8% rise in Nifty Bank and 1.6% gain in Nifty 50 index.

Among the private sector banks, ICICI Bank rallied 5%, while Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank and HDFC Bank were up in the range of 1%-3%.

According to media reports, Vijay Mallya, chairman of Kingfisher Airlines, on Wednesday submitted a repayment plan to the Supreme Court, offering to pay Rs 4,000 crore to settle all claims.

The liquor baron is said to have conducted two rounds of video conferencing with banks and has offered to pay the amount by September 2016. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT.

Thus far in March, Nifty PSU Bank index rallied 21% as compared to 15% rise in Nifty Bank and 11% gain in the benchmark index.

The up move in banking shares also comes on the back of a hope that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might cut key rates in the next Monetary Policy review on April 5 given that the Union Budget for 2016-17 stuck to the earlier fiscal deficit target of 3.5% of gross domestic product for FY17.

India's retail inflation for March is expected to be around 5%, slightly lower than February's 5.2% and the Reserve Bank is likely to cut its key rate by 25 basis points each at its policy reviews on April 5 as well as in August, the PTI report suggests quoting Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) report. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT.