Equity settles sharply high; Nifty auto, metal, media indices rise
India's key benchmark equity indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- rose substantially on Wednesday and settled with sharp gains.
Sensex settled at 58,466 points, up 1.1 per cent or 657 points from the previous close.
Nifty settled at 17,464 points, up 1.1 per cent or 197 points from its previous close.
Barring Nifty PSU bank and oil & gas, all sectoral indices traded in the green on Wednesday.
Nifty bank, auto, financial services, IT, media, metal, private bank and consumer durables indices rose substantially, NSE data showed.
"The domestic market joined the global rally with all major sectors barring PSU Banks trading with gains. US stocks rallied yesterday shrugging off concerns over rising crude oil and rate hike worries ahead of the release of US inflation data," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
"RBI's policy announcement will be the key focus tomorrow as domestic inflation and policy tightening by global central banks would pressurize the central bank to adopt a similar stance."
The RBI will announce the outcome and stance of the ongoing Monetary Policy Committee meeting at 10 a.m on Thursday.
Among stocks, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, Indian Oil Corporation, Shree Cements, and Hindalco were the top five gainers, rising 5.6 per cent, 4.2 per cent, 3.3 per cent, 3.3, per cent, and 3.1 per cent, respectively.
ONGC, BPCL, ITC, SBI Life, and Tata Steel, on the other hand, were the top losers during the session.