Shares in the banking, home finance and metals sectors sizzled in the market today with hopes of further rate cuts stoking expectations of demand recovery.
But auto stocks (in the Nifty), expected to be a major beneficiary of the rate cut, missed out the rally with the exception of Tata Motors which reached a new yearly high today.
Leading the gainers in the NSE Nifty was the housing finance major HDFC which witnessed strong buying to push the share price up by ₹68.30 to close at ₹1,250. In fact the stock hit a new 52-week high of ₹1,257.75 before easing at the close a bit.
Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were the three Nifty bank stocks to touch new yearly highs. Axis Bank rallied to afresh 52 week high of ₹554.70 before dropping marginally to ₹552.15, a gain of ₹23.20, at the close. ICICI Bank reached a new high of ₹369.25 before edging down to ₹367, a gain of ₹6.20, as the day’s trading ended. For both the stocks, the new high was post-stock split after the face value of these shares came down to ₹2 from ₹10. HDFC Bank touched a new 52 week high of ₹1,027 but closed a little weaker at ₹1,017.80, still a gain of ₹13.25.
Banking behemoth SBI was another strong performer with the stock closing at ₹318, a gain of ₹4.85. SBI also is trading post-stock split at 10:1 ratio.
Minerals and metal stocks too made significant gains with Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel, Hindalco, NMDC and Jindal Steel putting up a strong show. Sesa Sterlite closed at ₹204.50, a gain of ₹11.35. It was the biggest gainer in terms of percentage on the Nifty with a gain of 5.88 per cent, just ahead of HDFC that ended the day with a gain of 5.78 per cent. Tata Steel closed at ₹403, a gain of ₹18.25, Hindalco was up by ₹4.50 at ₹144.75, NMDC was up by ₹3.45 at ₹140.60 and Jindal Steel closed with a gain of ₹3.65 at ₹155.30.
However Nifty auto stocks, barring Tata Motors, missed the rally. Tata Motors jumped by ₹21.45 to ₹559.95 at the close. It had also touched a new 52-week high of ₹561 before ending marginally lower at the close. But Bajaj Auto, M&M, HeroMotocorp and Maruti ended the day in the red.
The Nifty made a massive gain of 144.90 points to close at 8,695.60.