Banks, Metal Stocks Lift Sensex By 226 Pts

The Indian equity markets on Friday, June 25 closed higher led by advances in the banking stocks which sent the Sensex to trade near 53,000. Experts feel that investors sought some relief after Crisil's report which reported good figures in the states' revenues which surpassed the pre-Covid levels.

"Traders found some solace in Crisil's report that states' revenues are on track to surpass pre-Covid pandemic levels in the current fiscal year (FY22), owing to higher tax buoyancy, an increase in sales tax collections from petroleum products, and an increase in grants following the 15th Finance Commission's recommendations," said Gaurav Garg - Head of Research at CapitalVia Global Research Ltd.

The frontline S&P BSE Sensex jumped 226.04 points to end the week at 52,925.04, while the Nifty-50 index closed up by 69.90 points at 15,860.35. The 30-share Sensex witnessed gains in 20 scrips and 10 declines in the day's trade. Shares of Tata Steel bagged the top gainer adding over four per cent, while those of Axis Bank, SBI, and ICICI Bank surged over two per cent each.

Among the sectors, the Metal and PSU Bank surged over two per cent each, and the Financial sector gained over a per cent in the day's trade. However, the FMCG and Energy sector saw some selling and closed red on Friday.

The broader markets also ended higher with the BSE Midcap gaining over a per cent led by shares of Vodafone Idea(+10.66 per cent), Apollo Hospital(+7.34 per cent), Max Financial(+6.13 per cent), and Aditya Birla Fashion (+5.33 per cent).

In the overall market breadth on Friday, 1737 shares advanced, 1393 shares declined, and 142 shares were unchanged.