Sensex rises over 150 points ahead of RBI board meet

Team Udayavani, Nov 19, 2018, 11:45 AM IST

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex surged over 150 points and the broader NSE Nifty went past the 10,700 mark in opening trade Monday on the back of widespread gains ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s board meet amid capital inflows by foreign funds.

Positive leads from other Asian markets too influenced sentiments here. The 30-share index was trading 190.81 points, or 0.54 per cent, higher at 35,647.61 points.

Sectoral indices, led by realty, metal, auto, IT indices and bankex, advanced up to 1.44 per cent. The barometer had gained 315.17 points in the previous two sessions.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty was up 43.10 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 10,725.30 points. Investors are awaiting cues from the Reserve Bank of India’s board meet later in the day.

Finance Ministry nominees and some independent directors are expected to take on Governor Urjit Patel and his team later in the day over issues ranging from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) credit to the central bank’s reserves, though both sides are in favour of reaching a common ground.

Brokers said besides capital inflows from foreign funds, positive cues from other Asian markets, tracking weekend gains at Wall Street after US President Donald Trump said that he may not impose more tariffs on Chinese goods after Beijing sent a list of measures it was willing to take resolve trade tensions, buoyed the sentiment.

Major gainers were Yes Bank, Infosys, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, RIL, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, Wipro, L&T, Vedanta, TCS, ICICI Bank, Coal India, ITC, PowerGrid, HUL and Bajaj Auto, gaining up to 4.29 per cent. Top losers include Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Wipro, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank and Adani Ports, falling up to 1.30 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 844.82 crore on Friday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 372.24 crore, provisional data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.50 per cent, Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.21 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index up 0.22 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged higher by 0.24 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.49 per cent higher on Friday.