As polling is underway on the last day today, the risk appetite of investors seems to continue to grow with the defensive sectors like IT and pharma giving way to sectors like capital goods and auto as market seems to smell the victory of the BJP-led NDA.
Even the string of poor results dished out by the PSU banks in the last quarter of 2013-14 did not seem to have deterred the investors as they hope for pick-up in economic recovery and in investment in infra projects once the new government settles down in office which has lead to easing of concerns.
The NSE Nifty has climbed up by nearly 120 points and 42 of the 50 Nifty stocks were trading in the green. Surprisingly, while the IT and pharma stocks are languishing at the bottom of the charts, banks, capital goods, telecom and auto companies are booming underlining the confidence of the investors in a stable government giving a push to development.
In fact, many of the Nifty stocks in banking, auto and oil and gas sectors hit fresh 52-week highs.
Some of the major gainers were Coal India, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, BHEL and L&T, Tata Motors, Maruti and Hero Motocorp. Coal India was up by Rs 10.45 to Rs 319.10, BHEL gained Rs 7.05 to move up to 201.10, Bharti Airtel jumped by Rs 8.80 to 318.25.
Bank stocks
In the PSU banking space, SBI zoomed by Rs 78 to Rs 2,251.25, PNB was up by Rs 17.45 to Rs 836.20 and Bank of Baroda was trading at Rs 842.90, a gain of Rs 12.60.
The three private sector banking giants - HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank continued to be lapped up by the investors. Axis Bank was up by Rs 48.25 to Rs 1,677.25, ICICI Bank gained Rs 10.10 to trade at Rs 1,388.70 and HDFC Bank vaulted by Rs 37.50 to Rs 794.30.
Infra, auto stocks
Infra stocks also stirred into life with the expected pick-up in infrastructure spending once the new government gets going. Apart from BHEL, L&T was another notable gainer, up by Rs 33.85 to trade at Rs 1,376.55.
Auto sector stocks were also in demand. Tata Motors gained Rs 7.50 to trade at Rs 435, Maruti was up by Rs 45.95 to Rs 2020.80, Hero MotoCorp jumped by Rs 56.60 to Rs 2,274, M&M gained Rs 8.45 to Rs 1,111 and Bajaj Auto was trading at Rs 1,943.05, a gain of Rs 23.10. Stocks in the power sector like Tata Power, and Power Grid Corporation also were trading in positive territory.
IT stocks
But from among the IT majors it was only Infosys that was in the green. The stock, which was hammered after being downgraded by UBS, was up by Rs 28.15 to trade at Rs 3,139.60. The three other IT biggies - TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech were in the red. TCS was down by Rs 28.15 to Rs 2,131.75, Wipro shed Rs 8.55 to trade at Rs 505.40 and HCL Tech lost Rs 13 to slip to Rs 1357.70.
Among the bank stocks to hit new 52-week highs were HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. Auto majors Tata Motors, Maruti and M&M touched new yearly highs as also ONGC and BPCL.