Euphoria at the beginning of trading on Monday in the backdrop of massive win for pro-business French candidate Emmanuel Macron saw benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opening high, but they later trimmed gains to close on a modest note. However, select stocks hit new 52-week highs, such as ICICI Bank, Vijaya Bank, CESC, DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate and ACC.
In all, 36 stocks hit new one-year high on Monday.
ICICI Bank has been rallying post the declaration of its Q4 and FY2017 results; with brokerages giving a bullish outlook and setting a target price of Rs 325/365, the share has appreciated from Rs 275 on May 3 ( the day it announced results) to close at Rs 303.30 on Monday, after hitting a new 52-week high of Rs 308.30.
Vijaya Bank shares scaled a new one-year-high of Rs 90 before closing at Rs 88.40, up 6.83 percent. The stock has rallied 112 percent in six months, from its November 8 closing of Rs 41.7.
In a recent decision, the Indian government appointed RA Sankara Narayanan, currently executive director of Mumbai-based Bank of India, was appointed MD & CEO of Vijaya Bank with effect from September 1.
Dinabandhu Mohapatra, executive director at Bengaluru-based Canara Bank, was appointed MD and CEO of Bank of India.
Sunil Mehta, executive director of Mangaluru-based Corporation Bank, was appointed MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank.
In all, seven such top-level appointments at public sector banks were announced by the government on May 5.
ACC, along with Ambuja Cements, spiked on Monday on the back of merger buzz. Ambuja Cements closed 5.89 percent higher at Rs 260.80 while ACC ended with 3.57 percent gain at Rs 1,714.40.
Moneycontrol.com reported that CLSA has upgraded its rating for Ambuja Cements to Rs 311 and for ACC, to Rs 1,925.
The board of directors of ACC met last week decided to "commence evaluation of a potential merger between the company and Ambuja Cements with a view to combine the strengths of both businesses as to benefit all stakeholers," the company said in a regulatory filing on May 5.
