Sensex, Nifty end higher for the third day in a row

Indian indices continued to gain on Wednesday (February 5) with the benchmark Sensex advancing 353.28 points to close at 41,142.66, while the Nifty settled on 12,089 points after gaining 109 points.

Tata Steel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, zooming 5.14 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, HDFC, TCS, L&T and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp was the worst loser, going down 3.83 per cent. PowerGrid, Maruti, Asian Paints and NTPC too ended in the red.

Sectorally, BSE metal, telecom, realty, industrials, capital goods, energy, oil and gas, finance, FMCG and IT indices advanced 2.90 per cent, while power and utilities indices closed in in the red.

"Indian markets are mirroring the global markets and trading on a higher note powered by rate-sensitive stocks. With the overreaction following the budget mostly done with, focus will shift to how global events and Q3 results pan out. With Inflation being on the higher side there is no further room left for the central bank to tweak rates and is expected to continue its accommodative stance in the policy due tomorrow," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, told PTI.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures gained 2.76 per cent to USD 55.45 per barrel. n the currency front, the Indian rupee closed flat at 71.24 per US dollar.