An evening walk down Dalal Street

Bulls were back in the driver’s seat on Wednesday as sustained buying in banks ensured another record close for equity benchmarks. In fact, the Bank Nifty managed to clock 28,000 for the first time and ended above it. The Nifty, too, closed exactly at 11,450-mark, another milestone in its recent outperformance streak that the index has had.

The day began on a very flat note, almost setting the tone for a consolidation. But benchmarks picked up pace post noon, courtesy banks as well as energy names such as ONGC and Reliance Industries, thereby pushing indices higher.

Among broader markets, though, midcaps had a day of underperformance. The index closed on a flat note, with a negative bias.

Barring automobiles and pharmaceuticals, majority of sectoral indices ended in the green. Reliance Industries and ONGC were the top gainers, while Maruti Suzuki, Vedanta and Lupin lost the most.

The Sensex closed up 221.76 points or 0.59% at 37887.56, while the Nifty ended higher by 60.50 points or 0.53% at 11450.00. The market breadth was negative as 1,309 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,393 shares, while 146 shares were unchanged.