Sensex rises over 100 pts ahead of RBI policy outcome

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 978.37 crore on a net basis on Thursday.

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 100 points in opening trade on Friday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decision.

The 30-share index was trading 103.44 points or 0.26 per cent higher at 40,286.11, and the NSE Nifty rose 34.85 points or 0.29 per cent to 11,869.45.

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Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, L&T, M&M, Bajaj Finance and HDFC.

On the other hand, HUL, Reliance Industries, TCS, Nestle India and Tech Mahindra were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 303.72 points, or 0.76 per cent, higher at 40,182.67, while the broader Nifty climbed 95.75 points, or 0.82 per cent, to finish at 11,834.60.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 978.37 crore on a net basis on Thursday.

According to Arjun Mahajan, Head – Institutional Business – at Reliance Securities, Indian equities continue to look resilient at the moment ahead of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy outcome as it would be crucial for the Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and markets.

“While the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may keep policy rates unchanged, market would be keenly watching out commentary of policy documents especially pertaining to MPC stance, GDP and inflation outlook,” he noted.

Fading uncertainty about outcome of presidential election in the US along with prospects of the largest fiscal stimulus after election bolstered investors’ confidence and aided Wall Street to close higher, he said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Tokyo was in the red.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.35 per cent lower at USD 43.19 per barrel.