Markets open higher, RBI policy key

BSE-real-estate, bankex, auto lead gains on BSE

Indian shares opened higher this Monday led by buying in real-estate, banking sectors, however, caution  remained ahead of  the Reserve Bank of India's fourth-quarter policy review on January 29 and Futures & Options expiry later this week.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 25.47 points or 0.13% and opened at  20,129.00 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty gained 7.75 points or 0.12% to open at 6,082.10.

Most economists expect the RBI to cut its policy repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday to 7.75 percent. The RBI last cut rates in April 2012 by 50 basis points but warned at the time there would be limited scope for further cuts.

In the results calendar, Adani Ports, Adani Power, JSW Steel and Reliance Infrastructure are scheduled to release their third-quarter results today.

Globally, Asian shares traded firm. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 23,693, Taiwan's Weighted index gained 0.37% to 7,701,  Singapore's Straits Times inched up 0.21% to 3,276  while China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.44% to 2,324 and Japan's Nikkei was tad down 0.08% to 10,917.

Back home, real-estate, consumer durables, healthcare, banks indexes gained while oil & gas, technology, IT fell on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks,  Hindalco and Sterlite Industries gained 1.4% and 0.4%, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp gained over 1%, Tata Steel was up 0.6%, SBI gained 0.5% while HUL rose 0.47% on BSE.

Among losers, NTPC fell 1%, ONGC dropped 0.7%, Sun Pharma fell 0.5%, Infosys and Wipro shed over 0.3% on BSE.

The broader markets rose with mid-caps  and small-caps  notching up by 0.2-0.3% on BSE.

The market breadth was firm. Out of 480 stocks traded, 352 stocks advanced compared to 108 declines on BSE.