The market rally continues as the European markets have opened in the green. The Sensex has touched a new intra-day high of 18,462 and the Nifty is hovering around the 5530 level. The Sensex is currently trading at 18,448, up 191 points and the Nifty is up 55 points at 5,534. The smallcap index and the midcap index, up 0.7%, are undererforming the benchmark index, which is up 1%.
On the European front, FTSE, CAC and DAX are all up 0.5% each. The Asian markets too have extended gains as the Hang Seng is up 0.8% at 21,208 and the Nikkie has risen 1.3% at 9,362.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, FMCG up 1.5% leads the charts, followed by Bankex and Consumer durables, gaining 1% each. The sudden surge in the banking counter is due to the stellar performance of ICICI Bank, which has gained nearly 4%, followed by Yes Bank and Federal Bank up 2% and 3% each.
HDFC Bank has added 0.6% and has become the third scrip in the banking space to join the elite Rs one-trillion market capitalization (m-cap) list. After the RBI's annnouncement of its quarterly Monetary Policy on July 27, the Bankex has outperformed the benchmark index Sensex, gaining 9% compared to the 2% gain in the Sensex.
The gainers on the Sensex are HDFC and ICICI Bank up 3% each at Rs 640 and Rs 999 respectively. The other significant gainers are ACC, Reliance Infrastructure, Jaiprakash Associates and ITC.
On the other hgand, ONGC down nearly 2% tops the losers list folowed by Tata Motors, SBI, Reliance Communications and Wipro.
The market breadth continues to remain positive with 1650 stock advances and 1219 declines.
