The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in noon deals and were on track to end higher for fourth day in a row led by gains in banking and financial services shares like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bankj, Bajaj Finserv and Axis Bank. The Sensex rose as much as 406 points and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 17,900.
As of 1:19 pm, the Sensex was up 387 points at 60,243 and Nifty 50 index advanced 115 points to 17,921.
The market participants welcomed New Year 2022 with enthusiasm on hopes of economic reforms in the upcoming budget on February 1, analysts said. In the last four sessions, the Sensex has gained 4.2 per cent and Nifty has rallied 4.15 per cent.
Twelve of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Bank index's 2.3 per cent gain. Nifty Auto, Financial Services, Metal, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the other hand, information technology shares were witnessing selling pressure on account of profit booking, Nifty IT index fell nearly 2 per cent. Media and Healthcare shares were also facing a mild selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares were underperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.3 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading on a flat note.
Bajaj Finance was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4 per cent after it reported quarterly business update for October-December period. Bajaj Finance's customer franchise as of December 31, 2021 stood at 5.54 crore compared to 4.63 crore as of December 31, 2020.
Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Indian Oil, Grasim Industries, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and Eicher Motors also rose between 2-4 per cent.
On the flipside, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, NTPC, Tata Consumer Products, TCS, Divi's Labs, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Power Grid, Reliance Industries and UltraTech Cement were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,842 shares were advancing while 1,487 were declining on the BSE.
