Bank stocks in limelight; surge up to 12%

Bank stocks rose sharply by up to 12 per cent today after the government's decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes from circulation to curb black money and terror funding.
Shares of PNB zoomed 11.86 per cent, Bank of Baroda surged 9.03 per cent and SBI soared 8.41 per cent on BSE.
Bank of Maharashtra (9.52 per cent), Allahabad Bank (8.25 per cent), Canara Bank (6.74 per cent), Yes Bank (5.86 per cent), Federal Bank (5.51 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.91 per cent), AXIS Bank (3.85 per cent), and HDFC Bank (1.94 per cent) -- all moved up.

The BSE bank index rose by 3.63 per cent to end at 23,185.59.
"Banking sector is expected to benefit as more money will flow into the formal sector. We expect banks to benefit in terms of more deposits, especially low cost deposits. However, in the near term, banks may witness higher stress on assets in the real estate sector," said Kamlesh Rao, CEO, Kotak Securities.
Banks have been ordered to remain open on the weekend as well as function late till 9 PM for three days beginning today to cope with the huge rush of people exchanging 500 and 1,000 denomination notes which have been banned by the government.

The BSE Sensex rose by 265.15 points to end at 27,517.68.