Mumbai
BSE benchmark Sensex jumped over 150 points in early trade on Thursday on sustained buying by domestic and foreign institutional investors, ahead of the RBI’s policy outcome later in the day.

On Wednesday, the Sensex soared 358.42 points, or 0.98 per cent, to close at 36,975.23; and the broader Nifty jumped 128.10 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 11,062.45.
According to traders, domestic investors remained bullish tracking sustained inflow from domestic and foreign funds, amid hopes that the RBI might change its policy stance to ‘neutral’ from ‘calibrated tightening’ on low inflation footprint, even as a rate cut was ruled out by many experts.

“Central banks in Asian markets from India to Indonesia are expected to halt interest rate hikes and possibly signal rate cuts as falling inflation and US Fed’s decision to put break on tightening interest rate cycle has left enough room for interest rate cuts,” said Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net of Rs 694.97 crore on Wednesday, and domestic institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 525.26 crore, provisional data available with the BSE showed.

In the morning session, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, HCL Tech, Tata Motors, M&M, Yes Bank, Maruti and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers, rising up to 2.64 per cent. On the other hand, Tata Steel, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and Vedanta fell up to 0.51 per cent.Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.75 per cent, while Korea’s Kospi rose 0.35 per cent. Bourses in China were closed for Lunar New Year break.