Bank stocks were in huge demand today, rising by up to 6 per cent, amid reports that the Reserve Bank has trimmed the list of companies required for bad loan provisioning.
Lenders zoomed amid reports of the central bank's stance on provisioning norms, which is expected to take some pressure off lenders that of late are grappling with troubled assets.
Shares of ICICI Bank soared 6.26 per cent, Punjab National Bank 5.10 per cent and Federal Bank 4.55 per cent on BSE.
Among others, SBI went up by 3.68 per cent, Bank of Baroda (3.68 per cent) and Axis Bank (2.08 per cent).
ICICI and SBI were the top gainers among the 30-stock Sensex components.
The BSE bank index rose 1.95 per cent to end at 18,951.46.
Buying in banking stocks also buoyed broader market sentiment, where the benchmark Sensex rose 36.20 points to end at 25,880.38.
