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Benchmark indices have extended the gains and are trading near day’s high led by gains in banking and financial shares among others.
At 12:45 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 515 points at 22,858 and 50-share Nifty was up 143 points at 6,802.
Bank Nifty index touched its all-time high levels in early noon deals and is currently trading at 13,425, up 388 points from its previous close.
Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank and HDFC Bank are trading 3-4% higher.
Adds Mohit Gaba, independent technical analyst and trader, "On the Index we have seen a good move today, one could buy with a stop loss at 6650 for targets of 6780 - 6800".
Foreign institutional investors continue to remain net buyers in Indian equities to the tune of Rs 808 crore this week so far.
The rupee was trading tad higher at Rs 60.05 to the US dollar. On Thursday, the rupee had ended strong at Rs 60.06 due to dollar sale by corporate and foreign banks.
Asian markets recovered from their early lows after inflation data from China which was in line, helping boost sentiment. The Nikkei was up 0.2%, Shanghai was down 0.3%, Hang Seng was up 0.1% and Straits Times gained 0.1%.
All sectoral indices on the BSE are in the green, except for Healthcare index which is marginally down. The BSE Power, Capital Goods, Bankex, IT, Consumer Durables, FMCG and Realty Indices have gained between 1-2%.
HDFC and HDFC Bank are up 2-3%, contributing the most to the Sensex gains.
Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Ind, Infosys and ITC have gained between 1-2%
Among other shares, Financial Technologies (India) is locked at the lower circuit for the second day in a row, down 5% at Rs 263 on the BSE, after Jignesh Shah, the chairman and managing director of the company was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the Rs 5,600-crore payment fraud at National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).
Finolex Cables has surged 7% to Rs 149, extending its previous day’s 10% rally, after reporting a 79% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 69.30 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4), on strong operational performance.
The broader markets are underperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained by nearly 1%.
Market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,303 gainers and 863 losers on the BSE.
