Extended rally propels Sensex past 27,700 as banking, realty shares sizzle

Riding on the back of a firm opening, benchmark Sensex advanced further in the noon trade surpassing the 27,700-mark as robust buying continued in banking and realty shares amid growing optimism amongst investors that talks between debt-ridden Greece and its creditors later today could arrive at a favourable solution. At 1.50 pm, 30-share BSE S&P Sensex was quoted at 27,705.52, up 389.35 points, or 1.4 percent from previous close. The broader 50-share CNX Nifty was at 8,347.35, up 122.40 points, or 1.5 percent. [caption id=“attachment_2306494” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Market breadth remained upbeat with 1,610 stocks advancing against 903 declines on BSE. While other key Asian gauges ended nearly 1 percent higher, major European indices exhibited a mixed trend in their early trade. Local banking shares notched up significant gains on hopes the revival in monsoon last week and improving domestic macro-economic readings would accelerate credit growth in coming months. Shares of Axis Bank jumped 4.2 percent to Rs 574.95, Yes Bank advanced 3.7 percent to Rs 861.05, Bank of Baroda added 3.5 percent to Rs 147.25, ICICI Bank moved up 3.1 percent to Rs 314.10, HDFC Bank gained 2.5 percent to Rs 1,056 and SBI was up 2.2 percent at Rs 266. Realty shares were back in action after the recent drubbing on the bourses, with BSE Realty index emerging as the bigger sectoral gainer, flaring up 5.4 percent to 1,424.69. Among the gainers, Indiabulls Real Estate vaulted 26 percent to Rs 53.10 following a media report that company’s promoter has plans to infuse Rs 538 crore to increase stake by 10 percent to 37 percent. Other winners such as HDIL shot up 10 percent to Rs 97.20, Unitech soared 8.8 percent to Rs 8.27, DLF shot up 8.5 percent to Rs 115.65 and DB Realty was up 4.2 percent to Rs 67.50.