Nifty Bank index races past 50,000 mark in post-election euphoria

Public-sector undertaking (PSU) banks were among biggest gainers on Monday, leading to a 8.4 per cent rise in the Nifty PSU Bank index, a index of only government-owned lenders

The Nifty Bank index, a gauge for the performance of leading banking stocks, crossed the 50,000 mark for the first time on Monday as the index rallied over 4 per cent in the exit-poll driven rally.

The index reached the milestone as some of its key constituents like the State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank, and Bank of Baroda soared over 5 per cent to hit fresh 52-week highs.

Public sector undertaking (PSU) banks were among biggest gainers on Monday, leading to a 8.4 per cent rise in the Nifty PSU Bank index, an index of only government-owned lenders.

The Nifty Bank's journey from 40,000 to 50,000 has largely come on the back of gains made by the PSU banks. Since October 21, 2021, when the Nifty Bank first crossed the 40,000 mark, the stock prices of Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank have tripled, while SBI has gained 80 per cent. In the same period, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Bandhan Bank have delivered negative returns.

Nifty Bank's climb from 40,000 to 50,000 (27.4 per cent increase) took 648 trading sessions, 12 sessions more than the number of days it took to move from 30,000 to 40,000 (33 per cent increase).

The Nifty Bank index has been a laggard among other key sectoral indices despite going up 16 per cent in the past one year. The realty, oil and gas, metal and auto indices have gained over 50 per cent during this period.