Sensex rises 300 points; Nifty50 tests 24,750; PSU Bank, Oil & Gas shares rally

Benchmark Indian equity indices, Sensex and Nifty, opened higher as the three-day meeting of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting commenced today. According to a Business Standard poll, the MPC is widely expected to maintain the status quo and keep key interest rates unchanged.

At 11:00 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 80,737.92 levels, up by 311.46 points or 0.39 per cent, while the NSE Nifty50 index rose 98.55 points or 0.4 per cent to 24,753.25 levels.

On the BSE, BEL, Eternal and Tata Steel were the top gainers. Hindustan Unilever, Maruti and Axis Bank among top drags.

On NSE, BEL, Eternal and M&M were the top gainers, while Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Maruti were top losers.

Broader markets, too, rose. Nifty SmallCap 100 index was up 0.18 per cent, while Nifty MidCap 100 index rose 0.33 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty Realty was the top gainer, up 0.87 per cent, followed by Metal (up 0.7 per cent). On the flipside, FMCG index fell 0.7 per cent.