The surge in bank stocks came after the Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Bank Laws) Amendment Bill, 2006. The amendment bill will allow SBI to reduce its stake in subsidiary banks to 51 per cent, from the existing 55 per cent. Select banks surged. Dena Bank jumped 11.9 per cent, UCO Bank 8 per cent, Oriental Bank of Commerce 7.5 per cent, Bank of Maharashtra 5.8 per cent and Andhra Bank 3.6 per cent.

Real estate stocks rose on renewed speculative buying. Peninsula Land jumped 15.7 per cent, Ansal Infrastructure rose 10.7 per cent, Parsvnath Developers rose 7 per cent, Mahindra Gesco Developers rose 6.8 per cent. Unitech joins $10 bn club MUMBAI: Real estate and construction major Unitech Ltd has joined the $10 billion market valuation club with its share price surging over 10 per cent on the bourses. The company has jumped to the 17th position in the overall list of companies with its market cap going past the $10-billion mark. The company has moved ahead of Reliance Petroleum, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and Suzlon Energy among others in terms of market capitalisation. The scrip on Wednesday ended at Rs 535.25 up about Rs 50 on the BSE taking its market capitalisation to Rs 43,446.24 crore.