Over the five trading sessions ending March 20, the Sensex benchmark remained largely flat with a slight negative bias, slipping just 31 points to close at 74,532. Although the index advanced in four out of the five sessions, a sharp decline of around 2,500 points on March 19 erased most of those gains. During the same period, 14 stocks in the BSE SmallCap index recorded continuous declines across all five sessions, with cumulative losses of up to 23%. (Data source: ACE Equity)
HDFC Bank, SBI, other stocks jump up to 2%; Nifty Bank gains 560 points. What lies ahead?
Banking stocks rallied up to 2% on Wednesday, lifting the Nifty Bank index as investors positioned themselves ahead of a crucial round of Q1 earnings