Sensex up 200 points; financials, metals lead gainers
Markets started the July F&O series with impressive gains on Friday as hefty buying in metals, financials, and pharma sectors lifted indices for the second day. The Nifty PSU Bank index closed 2.7 per cent higher on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) amid renewed privatisation buzz and fund-raising by banks.
That apart, the Nifty Metal index zoomed 2.5 per cent after Russian government said it is preparing new export taxes from August 1 for steel products, nickel, aluminium and copper which will cost their producers $2.3 billion.
The Nifty Bank, Private Bank, Pharma, and auto indices, meanwhile, rose between 0.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent.
Overall, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex index added 226 points, or 0.43 per cent, to settle the session at 52,925 levels while the Nifty50 index shut shop at 15,863-mark, up 73 points or 0.46 per cent.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices advanced 1 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
Tata Steel (up nearly 4 per cent), Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Maruti Suzuki, and Coal India made it to the list of outperforming stocks in the large-cap segment while Vodafone Idea, Apollo Hospitals, SAIL, Ashok Leyland, Allcargo Logistics, Uttam Sugar Mills, and Ajmera Realty marched aheead in the broader market space.