Sensex up 530 points over value buying; banking stocks gain

Despite negative global cues and lingering macro economic woes, the key domestic indices -- the S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- gained over 1.50 per cent on the back of value buying by investors during the afternoon session on Monday.

All the 19 sectors on the BSE gained, with banking and finance counters leading. Healthy gains were witnessed in export-oriented stocks like healthcare and IT counters.

At 1.40 p.m., the Sensex traded 534.75 points up at 33,884.06 points. It opened at 33,549.88 points from its previous close of 33,349.31 points.

It touched an intra-day high of 33,911.38 points and a low of 33,341.80 points.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,184.45 points during the afternoon trade session, up 154.45 points and 1.54 per cent.

The domestic currency was trading around Rs 73.42 a dollar from its Friday's close of 73.46. The benchmark brent crude traded around $77.09 a barrel.

The banking stocks made healthy gains of over 2.50 per cent. The top gainers included ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Axis Bank.

ICICI Bank gained close to 9 per cent to Rs 343.05 a share even as the private lender on Friday reported a 55.84 per cent year-on-year decline in its standalone net profit for the quarter ended in September.

While State Bank of India gained over 7 per cent at Rs 266.30 apiece, Axis Bank was up over 5 per cent at Rs 568.50 a share.

--IANS

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