Sensex gains 500 points led by banks

New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) BSE Sensex gained 500 points on Monday led by banking stocks.

Sensex was trading at 74,248 points, up by 518 points. ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank were up more than 2 per cent in trade while Kotak Mahindra and Axis Bank were up more than 1 per cent.

V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said the major negative in the market continues to be the sustained selling by FIIs, triggered by the high bond yields in the US. This selling by FIIs, in both equity and debt, will continue to weigh on markets so long as the US bond yields remain high, which, in turn, will be decided by the US inflation numbers.

“ICICI Bank results are very good. Impressive growth in deposit and credit and a decline in NPAs augur well for the stock. HCL Tech’s low guidance of 3 to 5 per cent revenue growth in FY25 will weigh on the stock. Pharma and auto sectors will continue to remain resilient,” he said.

HCL Tech is down more than 5 per cent on Monday. HCL Technologies (HCLT) reported weak 4QFY24 performance, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.

“While we expect some near-term pressure on the stock on account of weak FY25 revenue growth guidance, we continue to expect the stock to outperform its peers. We cut our FY25-26 earnings estimates by 6-8 per cent to factor in weaker-than-expected guidance,” the brokerage added.