Markets end firm led by banks

Markets ended the Thursday's trading session on a strong note led by bank, metals and index heavyweight Reliance Industries and FMCG major ITC.

The Sensex advanced 133 points to provisionally close at 17,333 levels and the Nifty jumped 50 points to close at 5,277.

Meanwhile on the macro economic front, the index of industrial production for the month of February came in at 4.1% as against a market expectation of 6.6%.

The Asian markets also ended on a strong note.

The Nikkei closed higher by 66 points at 9,524 levels, Hang Seng advanced 187 points to close at 20,327 and the Shanghai jumped 42 points at 2,351 levels.

The European markets were trading on a subdued note. The CAC and FTSE were trading marginally lower.

While, the Germany's DAX was trading higher with marginal gains.

Back home, the metal and banking stocks were on the investors radar.

The BSE Metal index was the top sectoral gainer. The index advanced 2.2% or 235 points to 10,956 levels.

Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Sesa Goa, SAIL, JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Bhushan Steel were among the top gainers from this space.

Banking stocks gained on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India might cut down the key rates in the upcoming monetary policy review.

BSE banking index- Bankex jumped 1.6% or 191 points to 11,979.

Canara Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Indusind Bank, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank were the top gainers from this space, up 1.5-4% each.

FMCG, auto, capital goods,, PSU, power, oil & gas and realty stocks also witnessed buying in trades today. The respective indices advanced 0.2-1.5% each.

At the same time, led by the losses in the IT heavyweight stocks such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS the BSE IT index closed lower by over 1% or 69 points at 5,923 levels.

Infosys slipped 2% to Rs 2,750 ahead of the fourth quarter results which are to be announced tomorrow. Wipro and TCS also ended weaker by 1% each.

Among the Sensex stocks, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, BHEL, ITC, Reliance Industries, HUL, Gail India, Tata Power, L&T and Cipla were among the top gainers, up 0.5-4%

each. While, ONGC, DLF, Sun Pharma and NTPC were among the notable losers.

Shares of aviation companies were under pressure in otherwise firm market, declining between 4-5% from day's high, after the government postponed the decision of allowing foreign carriers to invest in domestic airlines for next week.

Shares of probable delisting candidates from multinational companies were in limelight on successful delisting of Alfa Laval from Indian bourses.

Astrazeneca Pharma, Novartis India, Timken India, Fresenius Kabi Oncology, Oracle Financial Services Software, Honeywell Automation India and INEOS ABS (India) were among few delisting candidates according to brokerage firm ICICI Direct, trading higher by 2-8% on the National Stock Exchange.

Neyveli Lignite has surged 4.5% to Rs 89 on hopes of the government nod for its proposed joint venture to set up a Rs 10,000 crore thermal power project in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC)ended at Rs 97, it slipped below its issue price after listing at Rs 101 on the National Stock Exchange.

The state-owned construction company has issued shares at price of Rs 106 per share to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) and High Networth Individual investors. The retail investors received shares at Rs 100.70 per share - a 5% discount to the issue price.

MT Educare debuted at Rs 90, a 13% premium against its issue price of Rs 80 per share on the National Stock Exchange in pre-market trades.

An education support and coaching services provider has raised Rs 99 crore via initial public offer (IPO), fixed the issue price at higher end of price band of Rs 74-80 a share.

The broader markets also advanced in trades today.

The BSE mid-cap index advanced 54 points to 6,384 and the small-cap index jumped 68 points to 6,842 levels.

The overall breadth was positive as 1,712 stocks advanced while 1,100 stocks declined.