Banking stocks gain on rally of bonds

Mumbai: Lenders gain for a second consecutive day with the Bank Nifty up 0.6 per cent after its 1.8 per cent gain on Friday. A rally in bonds after the RBI fully sold the 200 billion rupees ($3.31 billion) worth of debt on offer on Thursday sparking gains in banks, while hopes of sturdier earnings also help.

Punjab National Bank is up by 2.2 per cent, Bank of Baroda rises 1.9 per cent and State Bank of India is up 1.3 per cent.

HDFC Bank gains 0.8 per cent ahead of its results on Tuesday, while ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are up marginally ahead of their results later in the week.