Bank Nifty records biggest single-day gain in three months

The Bank Nifty index on Monday recorded its biggest single-day gain in three months after renewed buying interest pushed most of the banking stocks up. Shares of ICICI Bank advanced nearly 3% on Monday while Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 1.6%. State Bank of India (SBI) shares gained 2.5%.

The stocks that have powered the Bank Nifty are HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank. These three banks together have contributed nearly 75% of Bank Nifty’s gains of 2,725 points in 2018. On Monday, the Bank Nifty gained 429.50 points, or 1.5%, to close the session at 28,264.20, which is 56 points away from its record high of 28,320.

Since the beginning of 2018, the gauge for bank stocks has gained 10.7% against the broader Nifty 50’s gain of 11%.

However, the Bank Nifty managed to outdo the broader Nifty 50 in three out of four years through 2017. While Bank Nifty rallied 40.5% in 2017 and 7.4% in 2016, the Nifty50 gained 28.7% and 3.01% in the same period. Monday also saw the Nifty PSU bank index rising 2.2% to close the session at 3,283.90 – its highest level since August 21 as State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda powered the rally. With Monday’s gain the gauge for state-owned lenders, rallied close to 22% from its mid-July low of 2695.40 points.

The inclination towards PSBs gained momentum on Monday after a media report indicated that the banks are in the process of closing, or rationalising, about 70 overseas operations as part of capital conservation exercise.

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)