Realty, auto shares gain as loans get cheaper

MUMBAI: Rate sensitive stocks continued to put up a good show Wednesday after the PSU banks agreed to cut lending rates by 0.5 to 0.75 percentage points.

The finance ministry will also interact with private and foreign banks operating in India on Wednesday to ensure that liquidity and interest rates issues are addressed in tandem both by lenders in both public and private sectors.

BSE Realty Index rose 4 per cent with midcap realty players in focus. Indiabulls Realty, up 12.36 per cent, spearheaded the rally, followed by Sobha Developers (4.56%), Peninsula Land (7.43%) and Mahindra Life Sciences (6.6%), Phoenix Mills (4.66%) and Orbit Corp (8.8%).

In the automobile space, two-wheeler maker Hero Honda gained 2.31 per cent. Tata Motors rose 1.21 per cent and Marytu Suzuki added 0.51 per cent sending the BSE Auto up 1.61 per cent.