Sensex jumps 100 points, Nifty kisses 9,900; all eyes on RBI’s rate decision

Sensex and Nifty opened marginally higher on Wednesday, later extended the morning gains in a muted trade activity as the attention of market participants shifts to the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s bi-monthly monetary policy. BSE Sensex gained 25 points to open at 31,522.17 points and NSE Nifty too added 25 points to open at 9,884.35 points. Meanwhile, Japanese shares jumped in the early trade on Wednesday led by auto stocks as US demand for cars rose following damage from recent hurricanes. The benchmark Sensex shuttled in the range of 31,457.78-31,619.82 points till the early morning trade while the broader Nifty 50 rose 41 points to hit 9,900.75 points.

Shares of Lupin (up 1.33%), Dr Reddy’s (up 1.75%), Asian Paints (up 1.53%), ITC (up 1.49%), Reliance Industries (up 1.27%), Sun Pharma (up 1.69%) were the top gainers on Sensex today while Bharti Airtel lost over 1%. The stocks of heavyweight companies such as Reliance Industries and ITC contributed the most to the index gains. Collectively these two stocks alone added about 68 points out of 82-point gain in the 30-share barometer Sensex. The rupee turned stronger by 17 paise at 65.33 against the dollar today ahead of the announcement of RBI’s monetary policy review. The rate decision of the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) is due today.

The three major US stock indexes and the Russell 2000 posted record high closes for the second straight day on Tuesday, helped by gains in airlines and as carmakers rose after strong September vehicle sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 84.07 points, or 0.37% to close at 22,641.67 points, the S&P 500 gained 5.46 points or 0.22% to 2,534.58 points and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.00 points or 0.23% to 6,531.71 points.

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)