Sensex climbs 159 points, RBI policy meet in focus

Mumbai: The Sensex surged by over 159 points today as interest-sensitive stocks took the centre-stage ahead of RBI's announcement of its policy decision later in the day amid firm Asian cues.

The rupee gained more against the dollar, buoying the overall mood.

The 30-share index rose 159.36 points, or 0.56 percent, to 28,402.65, with sectoral indices led by auto, realty, banking, oil & gas and power trading in the positive zone with a gain of up to 0.74 percent.

The gauge had rallied 415.76 points in the previous two sessions.

The NSE Nifty too added 34.30 points, or 0.39 percent, at 8,772.40.

Sentiment remained upbeat as investors went about building fresh bets in anticipation of a rate cut. The credit policy review will be the first under new RBI Governor Urjit Patel with assistance from the newly constituted monetary policy committee (MPC).

Major gainers that supported the key indices were ONGC, GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, RIL, Cipla and Tata Motors.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.04 percent while Japan's Nikkei went up 0.88 percent. Chinese markets are closed for all the week for the National Day holiday.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, ended 0.30 percent lower in yesterday's trade.