Sensex rises over 250 points, Nifty reclaims 24,900 led by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank

Sensex rises: The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in late morning deals after a flat start led by gains in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel and Asian Paints amid stable cues from other Asian markets. The Sensex rose as much as 324 points from day's lowest level and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 24,950 after hitting low of 24,856.50.

As of 10:42 am, the Sensex was up 230 points at 81,685 and Nifty 50 index advanced 80 points to 24,936.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher after Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the second time since 2007 and China’s government hinted more stimulus measures to spur economic growth. Japan’s central bank raised its key rate target to 0.25 per cent from around zero. Expectations for policy tightening had risen following reports overnight that the BOJ was mulling the move. Following the move Japan's Nikkei rose 0.33 per cent.

China's stock markets rebounded from five-month lows after the Communist Party leadership signalled more stimulus measures. Shanghai Composite climbed 1.85 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 2.12 per cent.

Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.27 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.43 per cent.

Back home, buying was visible across sectors as eleven of 13 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Pharma and Metal indices' 1 per cent gain. Nifty IT, Financial Services, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.5-0.8 per cent.

On the other hand, PSU Bank and Realty indices were trading lower.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.76 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading on a flat note.

Among the individual shares, GAIL India rose as much as 5.43 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 246.35 after it surpassed earnings estimates in first quarter of current financial year. GAIL India reported net profit of Rs 2,724 crore on revenue of Rs 33,692 crore beating profit estimate of Rs 2,256 crore.

Asian Paints was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.44 per cent to Rs 3,005. JSW Steel, NTPC, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Adani Enterprises, SBI Life, Hindalco, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Maruti Suzuki also rose between 1-1.8 per cent.

On the flipside, Divi's Labs, Tata Consumer Products, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Hero MotoCorp were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,184 shares were advancing while 1,478 were declining on the BSE.