Domestic stock markets have held on to their early gains in mid-morning trading due to buying interest in financial stocks, led by HDFC Bank. The S&P BSE Sensex index touched an intra-day high of 37,433.43 in the initial hour of trade, having started the session up 388.89 points - or 1.05 per cent - at 37,409.03 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark surpassed the psychological mark of 11,000 to touch an intra-day high of 11,017.70 in early deals, after opening on a positive note at 10,999.45 compared to its previous close of 10,901.70. Gains in banking and financial services and IT stocks are pushing the markets higher.
At 10:55 am, the Sensex traded 252.35 points - or 0.66 per cent - higher at 37,268.50, while the Nifty was up 72.30 points - or 0.62 per cent - at 10,972.15.
Britannia, Infratel, HDFC Bank, Coal India and ICICI Bank were the highest percentage gainers on the NSE, strengthening between 2.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent each.
HDFC Bank shares were trading strong at Rs 1,134.15, up 3.20 per cent on the NSE, after the country's largest lender by market capitalisation posted a 20 per cent rise in net profit for the April-June period on the back of higher interest income and lower costs.
ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were the other banking heavyweights that had gained 0.6-2.7 per cent each, on the NSE. The midcap banking universe was also witnessing buying interest, with UCO Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda gaining 0.9-4.5 per cent each, on the NSE.
Information technology stocks took off from where they had left last week, on the back of stellar June quarter results reported by Infosys and HCL Tech. Infosys added another 1.1 per cent, while HCL Tech, Wipro and TCS added up to 2 per cent each, on the NSE.
On the other hand, select pharma and auto stocks were trading weak on the NSE. Among the pharma stocks, Cipla and Sun Pharma lost 1.4 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively. And in the auto space, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki shed around 1 per cent each, on the NSE.
Analysts awaited more large cap companies to report their financial results for the quarter ended June 30. Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Auto, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank will report their earnings this week.
The NSE market breadth was strong. Out of 2,176 stocks traded on the NSE, there were 1,084 advancing stocks as against 657 declines.
