SENSEX rises over 300 points, NIFTY50 index above 24,350 led by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Monday, July 6, powered by gains in banking heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank after they surprised market participants by posting better than expected quarterly business updates. The SENSEX rose as much as 328 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,360.

As of 9:24 am, the SENSEX was up 287 points at 78,049 and NIFTY50 index advanced 76 points to 23,347.

Asian markets were trading lower on Monday as crude oil prices edged higher in global markets. Japan's Nikkei declined 1%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.6%, South Korea's KOSPI dropped 2.2% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.9%.

Back home, 11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the NIFTY Healthcare index's 0.55% gain, NIFTY Bank, Private Bank, Financial Services, Auto, Metal and Pharma indices also rose between 0.2% and 0.5%.

On the other hand, oil & gas, PSU banking, media and IT share were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were trading on a flat note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.18% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.07%.

Bharat Electronics was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock advanced 2.2% to ₹427, mirroring gains in other defence shares, after the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday accorded in-principle administrative approval to various acquisition proposals worth nearly ₹52,000 crore to bolster the combat capabilities of the armed forces.

For the Indian Army, approval has been granted for procurement of anti-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) electronic warfare system 'Akash Tarnag', Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) systems, medium-range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) weapon system, Very Short Range Air Defence System (V-SHORADS), Active Protection System for tanks and jet-based Kamikaze drone system, the defence ministry said in a statement.

HDFC Bank advanced 2.3% to ₹819 after it posted quarterly business update. The bank said that its gross advances rose 15.4% to ₹30.61 lakh crore in June quarter from ₹26.53 lakh crore in the same period last year.

Axis Bank advanced 1.8% to ₹1,366 after it said that its gross advances jumped 19% to ₹12.73 lakh crore in Q1.

Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Max Healthcare, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel were also among gainer in the NIFTY50 index.

On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, TCS, ITC, Wipro, Tata Motors PV, Jio Financial Services and NTPC were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,480 shares were advancing while 1,337 were declining on the NSE.