Sensex rises over 150 pts; Nifty hits 11,300

Mumbai: Smashing all previous records, the BSE Sensex rose by over 150 points to 37,496.80, while the Nifty hit a fresh high of 11,300 in opening trade ahead of RBI policy meet beginning today.

The 30-share index spurted 159.95 points, or 0.42 per cent, to an all-time high of 37,496.80.

The gauge had gained 840.48 points in the previous five record-setting sessions and closed at an all-time high of 37,336.85 points in Friday's session.

The broader NSE Nifty too hit a new high by rising 31 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 11,309.35.

Trading sentiment remained bullish backed by sustained capital inflows by foreign funds and widespread buying by retail investors, driven by strong earnings by some more bluechip companies that helped key indices to scale new peaks, brokers said.

All eyes will be on Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meet to decide on its policy rates.

The Reserve Bank is likely to maintain status quo on the key interest rate on Wednesday notwithstanding elevated oil prices and government's announcement to steeply hike minimum support price for kharif crops, experts said.

Reliance Industries rose by 0.94 per cent to quote at 1,140.25 after the company friday reported its highest-ever quarterly net profit as bumper earnings from the retail business, improved profitability of telecom arm and near doubling of earnings from petrochemical business offset lower margins from oil refining business.

Other gainers were SBI, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Vedanta, Coal India, Power Grid, Tata Motors, HUL, Tata Steel, TCS, Bharti Airtel, M&M, NTPC and Adani Ports, rising up to 3.24 per cent.

PSU, oil & gas, banking, power, metal, Infrastructure, consumer durables and realty sector stocks were leading the rally.

According to provisional exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) put in a net of Rs 738.05 crore and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 406.12 crore on Friday.

Asian stocks declined as markets took cues from declines in Wall Street's last session, with focus this week shifting to the Bank of Japan, which will declare its interest rate decision on Tuesday.

Nikkei shed 0.75 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.66 per cent, while Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.16 per cent in early trade today.

US stocks closed lower Friday, following disappointing results from Twitter Inc. and bellwethers, including Exxon and Intel.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee will embark on its two-day meeting on Tuesday, with the US central bank expected to announce its decision on Wednesday.