Market set for a firm close; banking stocks lead

Key benchmark indices maintained its early gains in afternoon deals led by recovery in heavyweight banking stocks amid positive global cues. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, which are up over 1 percent, recovered from lower levels after slumping in yesterday's trades. BSE banking index surged nearly 1 percent on Friday.

At 1430hrs, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 0.63 percent or 130 points at 20,669 and the 50-stock NSE Nifty index was up 0.81 percent or 49 points, trading at 6,141 levels.

Broader markets too remained upbeat with BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading by 0.5-0.6%.  

Other top Sensex gainers at this are ITC, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance.    

The investor sentiment got a boost from a survey which indicated a brisk recovery in the US manufacturing activity sparking off a rally in Asian market. Japan's Nikkei share average led the way, soaring 2.8 percent.

The rupee is trading higher at 62.09 per dollar versus its close of 62.26/27 on Thursday.

A dealer says USD/INR direction to be flow-based with no major cues. The pair is expected to hold in a 62 to 62.50 range during the day, dealers say.

All the sectoral indices, except Realty index down 0.2%, were in the green territory. FMCG and banking index added over 1% each.

IT, Metal and Oil & Gas indices gained between 0.7-0.8%.

Bharti Airtel and BHEL down over 1% each were the top losers among Sensex-30 scrips.

Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, Cipla, HUL and NTPC losing 0.2-0.8% rounded off the losers list.

Among the top gainers were banking majors ICICI Bank and Axis Bank up 2-3%.

Tata Steel, ITC, Wipro, Tata Power, SBI, L&T and Dr Reddys Lab up 1-1.5% were the other notable gainers.

United Bank of India shares are down over 1 percent as Finance ministry accepted application for voluntary retirement of Chairperson & Managing Director Archana Bhargava on Friday.

The market breadth was very positive on the BSE. 1375 stocks advanced while 987 stocks declined.