D-Street Cheers Gains In Banking Stocks, Sensex Ends 546 Pts Higher

The Financial and Banking stocks witnessed so major gains on Wednesday, August 4 at BSE. They helped the markets gain momentum as the Sensex surged more than 600 points to reach a fresh record of 54,465 in the afternoon trade. 

PMI data which came in positive yesterday and comments by FM on GST collection scaling back to one lakh crore mark proved to be a welcome sign for the positive market sentiment, said experts.

Finally, the Sensex ended with a jump of 546.41 points at 54,369.77, and the Nifty-50 index closed at 16,258.80, up by 128.05 points. 

The Nifty Bank index gained more than 800 points or surged two per cent led by gains in heavyweight banking stocks.

Shares of HDFC continued to outperform as they jumped over four per cent post the company posted net sales of Rs 30,990 crore, up 3.46 per cent Y-o-Y on August 2. HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were other top gainers in the Sensex, advancing between 2-3 per cent each.

However, the broader markets failed to perform amid the benchmarks scaling record highs. Both BSE Midcap and Smallcap dipped over a per cent each in the day's trade. Shares of Vodafone Idea stood as the top loser as it declined over 18 per cent, while those of Abbott India ans PI Industries slipped six and five per cent, respectively in the Midcap space.

Experts are currently bullish on the market and are of a view that if the Nifty index sustains above 16,200, an upside till 16,500 will be witnessed soon.

Ashish Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research, said, "While sustaining above 16200 is the key factor from a short-term perspective, maintaining above this level is important for market to gain momentum and extend the rally until 16500."

In the overall market breadth, 1073 shares advanced, 2104 shares declined, and 113 shares were unchanged.