The benchmark Sensex continued its rally on the back of fresh buying interest by foreign and domestic financial institutions.
Sensex touched its highest level in more than five years during the intra-day trading, but pared much of the gain. Sensex opened marginally lower at 21,001 against previous 21,034. It touched a high of 21,205 and low of 20,992 before closing at 21,165, with a gain of 131 points. Most sectoral indices, except for BSE Healthcare, gained strength.
The BSE Bankex was the major gainer with 248 points at 13,087 points as most banks announced better results on Thursday.
On NSE, the Nifty gained 47 points to 6,299.
Titan Industries surged 4 per cent at Rs 266 after the company reported four per cent increase in net profit at Rs 187 crore.
State Bank of India rose 4 per cent to Rs 1,795 as the bank lowered interest rate on bulk (Rs 1 crore and above) across all tenure. It raised rate on retail term deposits. The Reserve Bank of India approved the bank’s proposal to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore through preferential allotment of equity to the Government of India.
Bharti Airtel gained 2 per cent to Rs 365 as the company reported better margin in the September quarter. Idea Cellular was up one per cent at Rs 173.
Major gainers for the day were Bank of India (21%), Oriental Bank (18%), Allahabad Bank (13%), Indian Bank (13%), Canara Bank (11%), BoB (11%), Punjab National Bank (9%), Syndicate Bank (9%), UCO Bank (9%), Andhra Bank (8%), IOB (8%), and Union Bank (7%).
Losers were Suzlon Energy (-5%), Prestige Estates (-4%), Wockhardt (-4%), Sobha Dev (-4%), Ambuja Cements (-3%) and Dr Reddys Lab (-3%).