Equity benchmark indices continued upward momentum for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged as expected.
The central bank also pegged the GDP growth for the financial year 2020-21 at 6 per cent while avoiding to stoke the climbing inflation rates.
Joseph Thomas, Head of Research at Emkay Wealth Management, said the RBI has crafted a fine balancing act of reconciling the requirements of growth with stability.
At the closing bell, the BSE S & P Sensex was up by 163 points to 41,306 while the Nifty 50 advanced by 45 points at 12,134.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty PSU bank up by 2.6 per cent and pharma by 1.2 per cent. But Nifty FMCG, IT and realty closed in the red.
Among stocks, Eicher Motors gained by 5.35 per cent at Rs 20,530 per share. IndusInd Bank moved up by 4.5 per cent, State Bank of India by 3.2 per cent and Yes Bank by 2.4 per cent.
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The other prominent gainers were Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, JSW Steel and Hero MotoCorp.
However, Tata Motors slipped by 2.8 per cent at Rs 178.50 per share. The other losers included Cipla, Titan, Infosys, and FMCG major ITC.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks edged up following record closes in Wall Street benchmarks after encouraging economic data, although investors kept an eye on developments in the coronavirus outbreak.
Japan's Nikkei rose by 2.38 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng by 2.64 per cent, South Korea's Kospi by 2.88 per cent and Shanghai composite by 1.72 per cent.
Investors raised bets after China said it will halve tariffs on some US goods. The move could help improve negotiating conditions for the second phase of a trade accord after the two countries signed an interim deal last month.
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