BSE Sensex, NSE Nifty gain despite Cobrapost sting on ICICI Bank, Axis, HDFC Bank

The BSE Sensex today rose by nearly 99 points in early trade, extending gains for the second straight session, on sustained buying by funds amid a firm trend on other Asian bourses - this is despite Cobrapost sting on ICICI Bank, Axis bank, HDFC Bank over money-laundering.

The 30-share index, which had gained 207.89 points yesterday, rose further by 98.95 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 19,669.69 points with all the sectoral indices, led by consumer durables and metals, trading in the positive zone with gains of up to 1.42 per cent.

The wide-based NSE Nifty moved up by 19.30 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5,928.25.

Brokers said besides hopes of a rate cut by RBI in its policy review next week, a firming trend on other Asian bourses, following overnight gains at the US markets, mainly buoyed the trading sentiment here.

However, shares of country's largest private sector banks – ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were under pressure and fell up to 1.22 per cent, after reports of alleged acts of money laundering.

In other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.38 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei by 0.84 per cent in early trade today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.58 per cent in yesterday's trade.

Stocks to watch-March 15

(Reuter): Global Markets: Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange is flat, while the MSCI-Asia Pacific index, excluding Japan, rose 0.24 percent.

Asian shares shrugged off three days of losses on Friday as global risk sentiment was buoyed by new U.S. data overnight suggesting a steady recovery in the world's largest economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average extended its winning streak to 10 days on Thursday, a string of gains last seen in late 1996, and ended at another record high as investors were encouraged by data showing the labor market's recovery was improving.

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