Nifty retraces 7,900-mark to hit two-week high; banks in focus

Equities staged a resounding comeback today as investor sentiment turned upbeat following the passage of a national bankruptcy law in Parliament.
Hectic trading activity sent the benchmark Nifty index rallying by a hefty 52 points to close above the psychologically key 7,900 mark, its highest level in two weeks, on the National Stock Exchange.
Bank stocks were in limelight and spearheaded the recovery, largely outperforming the benchmark indices.
All the sectoral indices ended in green and notched up smart gains.
The index had lost 39 points yesterday on fears over capital outflows after India's move to impose capital gains tax on investments through Mauritius.

After a dismal trading session yesterday, bourses opened on a strong note and kept its surging momentum intact.

The much-awaited Bankruptcy Bill, which aims at speedier recovery of money from troubled companies, comes at a time of heightened focus on the bad debts weighing down country's banking system. The new law will help improve overall business sentiment and boost investment in the county, a floor trader commented.
Elsewhere in the region, barring Japan's Nikkei, all major indices finished in negative terrain tracking overnight sharp sell-off in US stocks.
European bourses struggled to make much headway following the general trend in Asia.

The 50-share index opened higher at 7,871.45 and moved between 7,916.05 and 7,849.65 before ending at 7,900.40, revealing a solid gain of 51.55 points, or 0.66 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices realty rose 1.47 per cent, followed by Nifty PSU Bank (1.23 per cent), Energy (1.11 per cent), IT (1.10 per cent), Nifty Bank (1.01 per cent), Metal (0.80 per cent), Pharma (0.70 per cent), Auto (0.51 per cent), Infra (0.29 per cent) and FMCG (0.11 per cent).
The mid-cap and small-cap segment also attracted fresh buying interest.
Biggest index gainers were ICICI Bank, Reliance, TCS, Bosch, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Dr Reddy's, SBI, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid and Lupin.

The key laggards included HDFC, L&T, Aurobindo Pharma, Axis Bank, HUL, M&M, Eicher Motor, Maruti and Kotak Mahindra.
Turnover in cash segment fell to Rs 15,781.09 crore against Rs 17,796.14 crore yesterday.
A total of 7,973.89 lakh shares changed hands in 71,14,361 trades. The market capitalisation of the NSE stood at Rs 95,64,555 crore.