Closing Bell: Banking bulls fuel Sensex, Nifty rally; Petronet LNG, GTL Infra, BoB, SBI stocks gain

On account of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pumping around fifty per cent of their net equity investment into the banking stocks, the Indian indices consolidated its morning session gains on Thursday. The BSE Sensex gained 412 points before closing at 38,545 levels while the 50-stock Nifty closed at 11,570 levels after adding 124 points. The index Nifty Bank added 400 points after closing at 30,420. Stocks like Petronet LNG, GTL Infrastructures, Bank of Baroda and State bank of India were the major gainers in the intraday trade on Thursday.

Speaking on the current market rally, Prakash Pandey, Director & Head of Research at Fairwealth Securities told Zee Business online, "In March 2019 FIIs have pumped around Rs 30,000 crore into the Indian equity market. Out of this, around 50 per cent have been attracted by the banking sector stocks. One of the major reasons for this rally in the Nifty Bank index is due to the positive FII sentiments, which is expected to continue till the Lok Sabha election results are announced."

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Banking stocks led the bull run on Dalal Street by adding around 1.54 per cent in the intraday trade on Thursday. Banking major Bank of Baroda shot up more than 6.5 per cent, shares of State Bank of India and Axis Bank jump more than 3.5 per cent, Federal Bank stocks surge more than 2 per cent, ICICI Bank rose around 1.8 per cent, Yes Bank counter jump near 2.85 per cent while IndusInd Bank shares shot up around 1.4 per cent.

Realty stocks too had a bull run today. Realty major Phoenix Mills jump over 3.25 per cent, shares of DLF and Indiabulls Real Estate rose over 1.8 per cent, Oberoi Realty stocks surge around 1.7 per cent, Sobha Developers scrip went northward around 1.35 per cent while Housing Development & Infrastructure stocks rose around 0.75 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks had to witness selloff pressure today. The Japanese Nikkei 225 shed around 1.69 per cent, South Korea's Kospi went down near 0.82 per cent, Shanghai index went off around 0.92 per cent while Hang Seng lost near 0.17 per cent.