INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Wednesday ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision due later in
The Sensex rose over 700 points and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 17,350 led by gains in rate sensitive
banking, financial services and real estate shares
Analysts expect the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee to hold interest rates at record lows while maintaining its accommodative stance.As of
9:28 am, the Sensex was up 1.2 per cent or 685 points at 58,318 and Nifty 50 index advanced 207 points or 1.2 per cent to 17,383.Meanwhile,
Asian shares extended gains on Wednesday, continuing a global relief rally as markets found positive news in early reports about the
potential impact of the Omicron variant, although overnight advances in oil prices began to peter out.MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 per cent and Japan's Nikkei rose 1 per cent
United States S-P 500 futures rose 0.25 per cent.Investor sentiment got a boost on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India will likely hold
off on raising its key borrowing and lending rates on Wednesday, as it adopts a cautious tone amid the spread of the Omicron coronavirus
variant, economists and market participants said.Fifty economists surveyed by Reuters in a December 1-3 poll expect the RBI to hold its
benchmark repo rate at 4.00 per cent.Buying was visible across the board as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange
were trading higher led by the Nifty IT index's 2.2 per cent gain
Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Auto, Private Bank, Realty and Oil - Gas indices also rose over 1 per cent each.Mid- and small-cap shares
were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 1.4 per cent.Wipro was
top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.84 per cent to Rs 650
HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finserv also rose
between 1.5-2.6 per cent.On the flipside, NTPC, Hindalco and Coal India were among the notable losers.The overall market breadth was
extremely positive as 2,085 shares were advancing while 506 were declining on the BSE.
