Sensex up 100 points ahead of RBI policy; Nifty holds 8,750

Benchmark indices continue to trade in a narrow range with positive bias as investors have turned cautious ahead of RBI Monetary policy.

By 10:22 am, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 73 points at 28,317 and the Nifty50 rose 21 points at 8,760. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.2%-0.3%.

Top gainers from the Sensex pack are GAIL, ONGC, Sun Pharma, RIL and Wipro, all surging between 1%-4%. On the losing side, Coal India, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and M&M are down 0.4%-2%.

HPL Electric & Power got listed at Rs 190, 6% below its issue price of Rs 202 per share, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Amtek Auto rose over 8% on the BSE on reports Mahindra CIE Automotive have shown interest in buying business assets of cash-strapped auto parts maker Amtek Auto.

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Updated at 10:00 am

Markets have opened higher as investors are keenly awaiting the RBI's monetary policy review today.

By 10:00 am, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 72 points at 28,315 and the Nifty50 rose 19 points at 8,757. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.5%-1%.

“Nifty recovered its lost ground & seems marching towards the upper end of the range placed near 8830. Nifty is expected to gyrate within a broad range of 8830-8430 for the month. Hence lucrative trade could emerge near either side of the range. Traders should resort to adequate hedge to tackle extreme volatility,” said Sacchitanand Uttekar, Equity Technical Analyst of Motilal Oswal Securities.

The RBI after the third bi-monthly monetary policy on 9 August 2016, decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate remained unchanged at 6%. RBI also kept the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks unchanged at 4%.

The latest monetary policy meeting will be the first meet where the interest rate decision is taken by a panel. Urjit Patel, the RBI governor, will be one among the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) recently notified by the government.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks were trading on mixed note. US stocks closed lower yesterday, 3 October 2016 as investors digested key economic news and kept an eye on oil prices.

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 34.22 crore yesterday, 3 October 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 198.02 crore yesterday, 3 October 2016, as per provisional data.

Hero MotoCorp rose 1.51% after the company's total sales rose 11% to 6.74 lakh units in September 2016 over September 2015. The company registered highest ever sales in any month so far in September 2016. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 October 2016.

Interest rate sensitive realty stocks rose ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting today, 4 October 2016. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance.

Housing Development and Infrastructure (up 1.02%), DLF (up 0.69%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 0.32%), D B Realty (up 0.87%), Unitech (up 0.66%), Sobha (up 0.64%), Godrej Properties (up 0.65%), Oberoi Realty (up 0.94%) and Sunteck Realty (up 3.01%) rose.

Trading for October started on a buoyant note as key benchmark indices logged strong gains yesterday, 3 October 2016 led by gains in index heavyweights HDFC, L&T and Reliance Industries (RIL). The Sensex rose 377.33 points or 1.35% to settle at 28,243.29, its highest closing level since 28 September 2016.

With Capital Market inputs