ICICI Bank tops 'A' group

Mumbai, Jan 12 (UNI) Private sector ICICI Bank jumped 8.49 per cent to Rs 970.10 and was the top gainer in the 'A' group, brokers said.

A strong 6.13 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The bank will release its results on January 20, 2007.

Banking shares were boosted by news that the Cabinet had approved changes to a law, which will permit RBI more flexibility with respect to statutory liquidity ratio.

The ordinance will amend the Banking Regulation Act 1949, as per which banks must maintain a minimum statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of 25 per cent. SLR is the percentage of banks' deposits to be invested in government securities. The amendment will grant the Reserve Bank of India operational flexibility to lower the SLR.

Federal Bank (up 7.43 per cent to Rs 255.05), Bank of India (up 7.10 per cent to Rs 206.65) were the other gainers from the banking space.

Thermax surged 7.02 per cent to Rs 408.40, anticipating robust results for the December quarter.

Syngenta gained 6.62 per cent to Rs 421.45, on value-buying. It had surged to a high of Rs 444.

The BSE BANKEX index too shot up sharply by 469.40 and closed at 7383.25 points, brokers added.

UNI