Sensex gains ICICI, HDFC Bank lead

SENSEX-GAINS-BANKS-LEAD:Sensex gains ICICI, HDFC Bank lead

 

Reuters Market Eye - The Sensex gains 0.5 percent, while the Nifty adds 0.6 percent. Banks lead gainers on hopes loan growth and asset quality would recover this year, and as investors bet on more active RBI management of liquidity.

ICICI Bank gains 1.6 percent and HDFC Bank rises 1.2 percent.

Sentiment is also supported by higher Asian shares, with MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan up 0.9 percent.

Domestic stocks may remain volatile ahead of Thursday's expiry derivative.