Mumbai: Indian equity market started the New Year on a positive note, with BSE benchmark Sensex rising over 186 points Tuesday on account of banking stocks rally following the Reserve Bank’s comments that the banking sector is on a recovery path amid receding impaired assets load. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 36,254.57, rising 186.24 points or 0.52 per cent.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty ended at 10,910.10, gaining 47.55 points or 0.44 per cent. Besides financials, shares of telecom, IT, auto and pharma were in demand. Leading the Sensex chart, Bharti Airtel shares rose 2.76 per cent, followed by HDFC (2.01 per cent) and Yes Bank (1.38 per cent). Other gainers in the Sensex pack were HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, SunPharma, Bajaj Finance, TCS, PowerGrid, ITC, Bajaj Auto, Maruti, Coal India, Larsen & Toubro and RIL — rising as much as 1.3 per cent.
Among the losers were Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Steel, ONGC, HUL, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, Asian Paints, Vedanta, HCL Tech — falling as much as 3.75 per cent. Analysts attributed the rise in banking stocks to the Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the banking sector is on “course to recovery” as the afflicting non-performing assets recede.
The asset quality of banks showed improvement with gross non-performing assets’ (GNPAs) ratio declining to 10.8 per cent in September 2018 from 11.5 per cent in March 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report Monday. Asian bourses are closed Tuesday on account of the New Year.
