Sensex rises 1,000 points as banking stocks shine

Axis Bank leads pack with 13.46% gain

Indian equity benchmarks rose over 3% on Wednesday, with the benchmark Sensex gaining more than 1,000 points during intraday trade, as banking and financial stocks witnessed huge buying interest ahead of the derivatives expiry on Thursday.

The 30-share Sensex gained 995.92 points, or 3.25%, to close at 31,605.22. During the day, it touched a high of 31,660.60, up 1,051 points, over the previous day’s close of 30,609.30.

Incidentally, the top eight gainers in the Sensex pack were all lender entities, with Axis Bank heading the pack with a gain of 13.46%.

It was followed by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC.

The broader Nifty settled the day at 9,314.95, up 285.90 points or 3.17%. The India VIX index fell nearly 1% to trade around 31 levels; it was trading around 40 a month ago.

A positive trend in most leading Asian markets also acted as catalyst even as investor sentiment received a boost with foreign entities turning net buyers in the current month after two consecutive months of selling.

While provisional data showed that foreign portfolio investors were net sellers at ₹335 crore on Wednesday, they have been net buyers at ₹12,741 crore in the current month — a sharp upswing compared to the cumulative selling of nearly ₹69,000 crore in the previous two months.