Sensex gains for 4th day, up 72 pts ahead of RBI meet

Mumbai, Aug 3

The benchmark BSE Sensex advanced over 72 points to settle the day at over one-week high of 28,187.06 on Monday, ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review that begins on Tuesday. The stocks were mainly driven by a strong rally in banking, auto and realty stocks.

Brokers said sustained buying by participants to enlarge their portfolios ahead of RBI's bi-monthly policy review to be announced tomorrow and an appreciating rupee against the dollar buoyed sentiment.

Mood remained firm as buying activity gathered pace on expectations that liquidity may pick up as EPFO will start investing in the equity market this week, brokers said.

Besides, a healthy sales growth in July posted by major carmakers, including Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors, coupled with better earnings by some blue chips, came as a positive.

The government's move to infuse fresh capital into banks gave some forward thrust, too.

Continuing its upward journey for the fourth straight session, the 30-share BSE barometer rose another 72.50 points, or 0.26 per cent, to close at over one-week high of 28,187.06.

Intra-day, it shuttled between 28,263.35 and 28,071.37.

The gauge has now gained 727.83 points in four straight days, largely supported by the government's plans to infuse fresh capital into state-owned lenders by September and EPFO getting ready to invest in equity markets.

The 50-share NSE Nifty settled higher by 10.20 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 8,543.05. During the session, it moved between 8,563.95 and 8,508.10.

On the Sensex, SBI gained most (up 3.94 per cent) while ICICI Bank Dr Reddy's and BHEL were other contributers.

Of the 30-share Sensex pack, 18 rose while 12 ended in the red.

In the auto space, Maruti Suzuki climbed 2.29 per cent after the company said its domestic sales rose 22.5 per cent last month to 1,10,405 units as against 90,093 in July last year while Tata Motors surged 0.99 per cent after it reported 1.32 per cent increase in total sales in July.

Sector-wise, the BSE Banking index gained 0.99 per cent, followed by consumer durables, power, auto and PSU.

BSE small-cap ended up 0.93 per cent while mid-cap index gained 0.51 per cent.

Asian markets closed lower after China manufacturing activity dropped to a two-year low in July while the European markets were down in their early trade.

 Meanwhile, provisional data showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 277.77 crore last Friday. — PTI