Sensex rises nearly 100 points ahead of RBI policy meet

The BSE Sensex rose nearly 100 points in opening trade on Wednesday ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review that begins on April 4.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel, is scheduled for a two-day meet.

Rising for the third straight session, the 30-share index gathered another 98.15 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 33,468.78. The gauge had rallied by 401.95 points in previous two sessions.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty gained another 29.60 points, or 0.28 per cent, to trade at 10,274.60.

Major gainers were Tata Motors (3.48 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (0.93 per cent), Bajaj Auto (0.85 per cent), Yes Bank (0.66 per cent), M&M (0.66 per cent), TCS (0.58 per cent), Bajaj Auto (0.58 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki (0.55 per cent).

Sectoral indices, led by auto, realty, healthcare, consumer durables, IT and metal, were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.12 per cent.

Brokers said sentiments remained firm largely on the back of sustained buying by DIIs as well as retail investors and positive cues from other Asian cues, tracking gains on the Wall Street.

Investors, however, are in a wait-and-watch mode ahead of the RBI's first bi-monthly policy meet for FY19, they added.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 479.18 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 376.51 crore on Tuesday, provisional data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.20 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.46 per cent in early trade on Wednesday. Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.72 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.65 per cent higher in Tuesday's trade.