Nifty Bank scales record high after a 7,000-point rally in three weeks

The Nifty Bank index scaled a new high on Monday, April 21, after crossing its previous high of 54,467 in what has been a sharp recovery from the recent lows.

It has taken the banking index 25 trading sessions from its March 11 low of 47,702, to scale a new record high. This means that the index has rallied nearly 7,000 points in three weeks from the lows of March.

In percentage terms, the Nifty Bank is up 14% from the March lows, led by shares of IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda among others.

All constituents of the Nifty Bank have gained from March 11 till date, with Nifty 50 heavyweights like HDFC Bank (up 2%) and ICICI Bank (up 4%) hitting their respective record high levels as well. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank will declare their Q4FY25 results on Saturday (April 19).

A host of positive announcements have boosted sentiments around the banking sector. The measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India to boost liquidity in the system through Open Market Operations, along with two repo rate cuts, which has resulted in deposit rate cuts by the banks as well, has led to a boost around the sector.

Quarterly results from HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which were higher than estimates, also contributed to the gains on the Nifty Bank. Both the index heavyweights are also trading at all-time high levels.

Also Read: HDFC Bank analysts expect stock to touch levels of ₹2,660 post Q4 results

"We remain optimistic, the rating rankings for the entire sector look pretty decent. It's one of the strongest sectors in the strongest quadrants, as we put it, as far as earnings are concerned. And therefore large leadership stocks, as we always believed, as per our philosophy, stocks like an ICICI Bank, stocks like Kotak Bank within the private name, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda within the public sector names, might fare well throughout the next few quarters," Mayuresh Joshi of William O'Neil told CNBC-TV18 on April 16.

Also Read: ICICI Bank shares get their highest price target after Q4 results with analysts seeing more upside