Sensex up 153 pts to 1-mth high;banking,realty stocks in focus

The BSE benchmark Sensex today climbed 153 points to close at one-month high level of 19,170 on funds buying in financial and interest sensitive stocks as slowing inflation and lower commodity prices raised hopes of an rate cut by RBI, amid a firming global trend.
The Sensex rose 153.37 points, or 0.81 per cent, to close at 19,169.83, a level matching with March 18, led by buying in consumer durables, realty, capital goods and banking stocks.
The index had gained 285 points in the previous session.
A fall in Wipro stock by nearly eight per cent to Rs 339.35 after lower-than-expected results on revenue as well as on margin front, however, capped the market gains.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 51.30 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 5,834.40, after touching the day's high of 5,844.85.
Brokers said sentiment bolstered as expectation that easing inflation and weak commodity prices might prompt the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rate in its monetary policy meeting on May 3.

They said a firming trend in Asian and European markets as the Group of 20 refrained from opposing the Bank of Japan's stimulus policies, further supported the market.
In 30-BSE index components, 20 stocks gained led by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Ltd, Reliance Industries, Coal India, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, BHEL and and Sun Pharma.

The consumer durable sector index gained the most by 4.26 per cent to 7,414.70 followed by realty index by 3.41 per cent to 1,961.19. Capital goods index rose by 3.33 per cent to 9,773.01 and banking index by 2.41 per cent to 14,394.94.
On the other hand, IT and tech sector were down on fears that weakening rupee against the dollar might trim companies revenue. The software exporting companies get over 60 per cent revenue from the US and European countries.