Benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty advanced on buying in IT stocks and expectations of a status-quo in the policy rates of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is set to announce its revised monetary policy on Thursday. Besides positive global cues, investors’ interest in oil as gas stocks helped the indices.

While the Sensex gained 454.67 points or 0.63 per cent to 72,186.09, the Nifty closed 157.70 points or 0.72 per cent higher at 21,929.40. Similarly, the broader market ended in green with BSE SmallCap gaining 1.23 per cent, BSE MidCap (1.06 per cent) and BSE 500 (0.92 per cent).

Within the Sensex pack, HCL Tech (4.43 per cent), Maruti Suzuki India (4.05 per cent), Tata Consultancy Services (4.05 per cent), Wipro (3.59 per cent) and Infosys (2.52 per cent) were the major gainers, while Power Grid Corporation of India (2.97 per cent), IndusInd Bank (1.84 per cent), ITC (1.52 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.21 per cent) and Axis Bank (1.14 per cent) were the major laggards.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Oil and Gas gained the most at 3.02 per cent, followed by BSE Information Technology (2.94 per cent) and BSE TECK (2.74 per cent). On the other hand, BSE Power (0.39 per cent), BSE BANKEX (0.36 per cent), BSE Utilities (0.27 per cent) and BSE FMCG (0.07 per cent) ended in red.

Also read: Tata Group market-cap soars past ₹30 lakh crore

Of the 3,944 stocks traded on BSE, 2,296 gained, 1,572 declined and 74 remained unchanged. While 465 stocks hit 52-week high, 38 stocks hit 52-week low.

RBI MPC Meeting

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI began its 3-day long bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting on Tuesday. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said the investors were reluctant to significantly trim their positions ahead of the RBI MPC announcements, adding, “expectations for a dovish monetary policy buoyed sentiment in the bond market.”

“Oil and gas stocks held a modest advance as the market weighed down geopolitical risks in West Asia and awaited improvements in the weekly US crude inventory, ” Nair said.

‘Sectoral Rotation’

According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, though the RBI is likely to maintain status quo, the central bank’s commentary is eagerly eyed with regards to hints on rate cuts.

“Overall, we expect the market to continue its positive momentum with sectorial rotations,” Khemka added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹92.52 crore, show exchange’s provisional data.

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