Stock market update: Sensex, Nifty rise ahead of RBI monetary policy announcement

Indian equity markets on Friday traded higher in the morning session ahead of a key central bank policy decision as investors awaited cues on how the central bank plans to address inflation and currency pressures amid elevated energy prices driven by geopolitical tensions in West AsiaAccording to IANS the Sensex jumped as much as 048 per cent or 357 points to 7471757 hitting an intraday high in early trade Similarly Nifty was trading 042 per cent or 100 points higher at 23516Sectoral indicesSectorwise among the major gainers the Nifty Media index jumped 181 per cent followed by the Nifty Financial Services index which rose 097 per centAdditionally healthcarerelated indices remained strong with Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Pharma gaining up to 082 per cent while Nifty Realty added 071 per centOn the other hand Nifty Oil and Gas slipped marginally by 006 per cent while Nifty Metal declined 060 per cent IT and FMCG stocks were largely steady while PSU banks and private banks posted marginal gainsWipro among top losersAmong individual stocks Wipro Tata Steel Trent Hindalco Industries and Coal India were among the top losers on the Nifty indexGlobal marketsCrude oil prices traded higher with international benchmark Brent crude rising 088 per cent to USD 9587 while US WTI gained 053 per cent to USD 9354Asian markets traded lower with Japanrsquos Nikkei down over 1 per cent South Korearsquos KOSPI plunging 5 per cent and Hong Kongrsquos Hang Seng down about 1 per centExpert opinionAnalysts said there were mild positive indications for the market ldquoThere are signs of weakness in the AI trade in the US South Korea and Taiwan and rotation away from tech stocks but it is too early to say whether this will sustainrdquo as cited by IANSIf the Reserve Bank of India decides to act with a 25 bps rate hike banking stocks could see sharp gains as lenders benefit from higher interest rates experts saidHowever they added that a rate hike would be negative for interestsensitive segments such as automobiles and real estateWith inputs from IANS