Nifty hits life- time high; PSU bank shares rally

The headline equity benchmarks continued to extend gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 21,800 level. PSU bank shares advanced for the second consecutive trading session.

At 11.27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 657.28 points or 0.92% to 72,378.46. The Nifty 50 index added 188.65 points or 0.87% to 21,835.85.

The benchmark, Nifty 50 index hit a fresh all-time high at 21,848.20 in mid-morning trade.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.37% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.68%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,219 shares rose and 1,459 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index advanced 2.81% to 5,864.35. The index gained 3.47% in two trading sessions.

Bank of India (up 5.33%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 4.32%), Union Bank of India (up 4.18%), UCO Bank (up 3.87%), Punjab National Bank (up 3.8%), Indian Overseas Bank (up 3.72%), Bank of Maharashtra (up 3.7%), Central Bank of India (up 3.06%), Bank of Baroda (up 2.3%) and Canara Bank (up 1.99%) jumped.

Stocks in Spotlight:

KPI Green Energy rose 0.83%. The power generation company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, KPIG Energia has received new order of 2 megawatt (MW) for executing solar power project under captive power producer (CPP) segment.

Ultratech Cement shed 0.40%. The company said that it has entered into share subscription and shareholders agreement to acquire 26% equity shares of Amplus Ages for total consideration of Rs 49 crore.

Bajel Projects rallied 3.39% after the company announced that it has bagged a letter of intent (LOI) from Tata Power Company for a project worth Rs 487.64 crore.

Global Markets:

Most of the Asian stocks traded higher on Friday, while Japan continued its record-breaking rally, as investors awaited a slew of economic data out of China, including inflation and trade numbers for December.

US stocks ended close to the flat line on Thursday even as U.S. inflation for December came in higher than expected. The consumer price index increased by 0.3% last month from November. Year over year, CPI was up 3.4%.

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