Nifty up by 64 points, Bank stocks surge

Extending gains for the fifth consecutive session, the NSE Nifty rose by 63.90 points to end at 8,778.30 on buying in banking and financial counters after Moody's upgraded India's outlook to positive from stable.
The sentiment turned bullish over country's growth fundamentals after global credit rating agency Moody's changed India's outlook to positive from stable, as government taking steps to improve economic strength, and the upgrade could follow in 12-18 month time.
However, profit-booking marred the momentum couple of times after brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch down- graded key Pharma majors, also stocks of Infra and Realty incurred selling.

Indexwise Banking gained 2.49 per cent, PSU Banks 2.80 per cent, Financials 1.82 per cent, Metal 1.52 per cent, Energy 1.39 per cent, while Pharma shares lost 2.06 per cent.
The 50-share Nifty opened higher at 8,756.20 and hovered between 8,785.50 and 8,682.45 before closing at 8,778.30, showing a gain of 63.90 points, or 0.73 per cent.
Stock-wise, PNB surged by 5.99 per cent, Zeel 4.91 per cent, IndusindBk 4.65 per cent, KotakBank 4.30 per cent, Reliance 3.37 per cent, Tata Steel 2.96 per cent, Axis Bank 2.92 per cent, SBIN 2.54 per cent, Yes Bank 2.57 per cent, Axis Bank 2.52 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.98 per cent.

Notable losers were GAIL 3.22 per cent, SunPharma 3.22 per cent, Lupin 3.19 per cent, BhartiAirtl 2.85 per cent and IDEA 2.37 per cent.

Turnover in the cash segment climbed to Rs 21,112.15 crore against Rs 20,167.53 crore yesterday, A total of 10,145.67 lakh shares changed hands in 82,83,731 trades. The market capitalisation at NSE stood at Rs 10,310,584 crore.
Elsewhere, Asian markets ended mixed today.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 479.18 crore yesterday as per provisional data.