The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday extended their leads as investors await the RBI monetary policy outcome. At 9.38 am, the BSE Sensex rose 218 points to 65,849. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 19,611, up 65 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj twins, Titan, ITC, JSE Steel, Maruti emerged early gainers. On the downside, HUL, L&T, Airtel, PowerGrid, and Axis Bank were among the losers.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced up to 0.4 per cent.
Sectorally, Nifty Metal index jumped the most by over 1 per cent. Realty, Pharma indices were trading in the green, while PSU Bank is in the red.
In the previous session on Thursday, the Sensex gained 406 points to end at 65,632, while the NSE Nifty50 advanced 110 points to close shop at 19,546.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review is unlikely to impact the markets since no changes are expected in policy rates or stance. From the market perspective, the more important thing will be the US jobs data expected tonight, he added.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Tokyo quoted lower. The US markets ended marginally lower on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.33 per cent to $84.35 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 4 paise to 83.21 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday on positive cues from the equity market ahead of the RBI's interest rate decision. Selling pressure from foreign equity investors amid strengthening dollar resulted in a negative bias, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 83.21 against the dollar and then reached the 83.22 level, before touching 83.21 again. This was a gain of 4 paise against the closing level of 83.25 on Thursday.