Sensex gains 226 points; healthcare stocks zoom

A day ahead of the first monetary policy review of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for 2015-16, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex), made healthy gains in the late-afternoon session on Monday.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made gains during the late-afternoon trade session. It was trading 66.60 points or 0.78 percent up at 8,652.85 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,351.94 points, was trading at 28,485.92 points (at 3.00 p.m.) in the late-afternoon session, up 225.78 points or 0.80 percent from the previous day's close at 28,260.14 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,495.87 points and a low of 28,221.99 points in the intra-day trade so far.

Healthy buying was observed in healthcare, capital goods, consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automobile, realty and oil and gas sectors.

The S&P BSE healthcare index gained 776.76 points, capital goods index augmented by 227.69 points, consumer durables index rose by 199.56 points, FMCG index was higher by 174.93 points and automobile index moved up by 165.88 points.

The S&P BSE realty index increased by 110.42 points and oil and gas index rose 92.98 points.

However, metal index fell 39.86 points, information technology (IT) index was down 5.01 points, followed by technology, entertainment and media (TECK) index which slipped by 4.23 points.

Analysts said the Indian markets were reacting to the possibility of a rate cut in the RBI's first monetary policy review for 2015-16.

The RBI is scheduled to announce its first bi-monthly policy review for 2015-16 on April 7.

"The language that the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) uses in its outlook statement would also be key trigger for the markets," Devendra Nevgi, chief executive of ZyFin Advisors, told IANS.