Banks, Financials Lift Sensex by 975 Points

Banking and Financial stocks fueled the BSE Sensex to surge over 1000 points in the day's trade after a couple of muted sessions. The Midcaps and Smallcaps also rose a per cent each led by strong quarter earnings of the companies in the space, said experts.

According to experts in the market, the sentiment today was backed by a sustained rally in the banking and financial stocks as the corporate earning session continues to outperform and the transfer of surplus from RBI to the Central government today would have been a positive too for the street. Further, positives from Asian peers and decline in Covid tally at home also fueled the investor sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 975.62 points to close at 50,540.48 with 28 advances and 2 declines in the 30-share pack. Index heavyweights HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, and SBI Bank were the top boosts as they surged 4-5 per cent each in the intraday session on Friday, May 21.

Shares of SBI marked its day's high of Rs 404.70, up over five per cent in the day's trade. The shares shooted up post the public sector bank announced their Q4 results wherein the bank posted an 80 per cent growth in its net profit to Rs 6,451 crore. The bank has also announced a dividend of Rs 4/share.

The broader markets continued to shine as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices added over a per cent each in the day's trade. In the Midcaps, shares of Adani Transmission, Natco Pharma, and Motilal Oswal gained 5-7 per cent each on Friday.

So far in this month, the Midcap index has surged over four per cent amid volatility caused by concerns over Covid cases in the country. Experts feel that the movement is likely to continue further on positive reports from Q4 earnings of companies.

"Good Q4 results continue to flow pushing up stock prices, particularly of midcaps. Midcap outperformance continues with the Nifty midcap index up by 4.5 percent in May, so far, while the Nifty is up by 2 percent only. This trend is likely to continue," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On the flipside today, Power Grid Corp, Eicher Motors, IOC, and Dr. Reddy's Labs ended among the top losers of the index as they dipped nearly a per cent each.

Overall, around 1909 shares advanced, and 1140 shares declined in the market on Friday.