Sensex jumps 200 points in early trade; Nifty tests 14,750

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped nearly 200 points in early trade on Wednesday, tracking gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and SBI ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy outcome.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 199.01 points or 0.40 per cent higher at 49,400.40, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 68.90 points or 0.47 per cent to 14,752.40.

Reliance Industries was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy's, IndusInd Bank and ONGC.

On the other hand, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Bank and HDFC twins were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex settled 42.07 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 49,201.39, and Nifty advanced 45.70 points or 0.31 per cent to 14,683.50.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,092.75 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

According to traders, domestic investors are awaiting the outcome of the RBI's policy meet later in the day.

"These days there is a combination of good and bad news exerting push and pull effects on markets, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The steady decline in US 10-year bond yield to 1.66 per cent from above 1.75 per cent and dollar index to 92.3 from above 93 are clear positives. And now the IMF has projected GDP growth of 12.5 per cent for FY22 for India. FDI is rising smartly, he noted.

But these positives are being countered by the big negative -- rising COVID-19 cases in the country, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals, while Seoul and Tokyo were in the positive terrain.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended in the red in overnight trade.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.33 per cent higher at USD 62.95 per barrel.