Sensex gains 200pts, Nifty above 8550; Kotak Mahindra Bank up 7%

Equity benchmarks extended rally in afternoon trade, with the Nifty reclaiming 8550 level ahead of expiry of January futures & options contracts.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 198.57 points at 27574.15 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 81.40 points or 0.96 percent to 8557.20.

The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1 percent each on positive market breadth. About 1420 shares advanced against 1161 declining shares on the BSE.

Kotak Mahindra Bank shares gained more than 7 percent on asset quality improvement and strong earnings. Profit on standalone basis shot up 38.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 880 crore and net interest income grew by 16 percent in Q3 year-on-year.

Housing finance company HDFC was the leading contributor to Sensex’s gains, up 4 percent followed by ITC (ahead of earnings on Friday), L&T, Adani Ports and Axis Bank. Reliance Industries, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and Wipro (ahead of earnings later today) were under pressure.

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