Stock Market: Sensex Rises Marginally By 55 Points, Nifty Trades Above 18,700 Ahead Of RBI Policy Outcome

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, NTPC, PowerGrid, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, L&T, UltraCemco, HDFC, Titan were among the early gainers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday seen a positive start, albeit marginally ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy decision. According to several reports, the RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to keep the policy repo rate unchanged.

At 9.45 am, the BSE Sensex was up 57 points to 63,200. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 18,740, up 14 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, NTPC, PowerGrid, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, L&T, UltraCemco, HDFC, Titan were among the early gainers. On the flipside, Kotak Bank, TCS, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, HCL emerged losers.

Among individual stocks, shares of Tata Motors advanced over 1 per cent to hit 52-week high of Rs 576 per share, after global brokerage firm Goldman Sachs initiated 'buy' call on the counter.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices surged up to 0.3 per cent.

Sectorwise, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Auto, and Nifty Consumer Durables led the charge as they climbed up to 0.4 per cent. Nifty IT index, on the contrary, slipped 0.3 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex settled at 63,143, up 350 points, while the Nifty50 shut shop at 18,726, up 127 points.

"Domestically, the important cue to watch would be the RBI commentary today," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading lower. The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.25 per cent to $76.76 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,382.57 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 7 paise to 82.59 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.59, registering a decline of 7 paise over its last close.

On Wednesday, the rupee settled at 82.52 against the dollar. Forex traders said the local unit is trading in a narrow range as investors preferred to remain on the sidelines ahead of the release of the RBI monetary policy decision.