Sensex gains 300 points; banks rise on rate cut hopes

Reuters Market Eye - The Sensex and the broader Nifty index gain 1.5 percent. Lenders such as ICICI Bank gain after RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said he would take note of falling inflation when discussing potential interest rate cuts.

That is sparking more rate cuts hopes after the wholesale inflation index eased to its lowest in more than three years, according to data on Tuesday.

ICICI Bank gains 2 percent while HDFC Bank is up 2.3 percent at 10:33 a.m.

Tata Motors shares up 2.6 percent after its unit Jaguar Land Rover Ltd reported a 12 percent increase in sales in April on Tuesday, raising expectations the more important wholesales numbers would improve.

 

ONGC gains 1.6 percent for a second day on expectations the government would allow it to reduce the share of oil price subsidies provided to state refiners.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)