Sensex Rises Nearly 200 Points Led By Gains In Auto, Oil & Gas Shares

Sensex rose nearly 200 points and Nifty closed above its crucial psychological level of 8,200 led by gains in auto, oil & gas and FMCG shares.

Earlier in the day, the benchmark indices were little changed in quiet trading ahead of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting that starts later in the day.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point, its first for this year, when it announces its decision on Wednesday.

Investors will closely look at the Fed's statement on future action given fears that aggressive rate hikes could spark outflows from emerging markets to the United States.  

Such an outcome could hit Indian shares further given that markets are already under pressure over worries that demonetisation would hurt the economy bigger than expected.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors from the auto space was among the top Nifty gainers, the stock surged as much as 7 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs 486.25 after an undisclosed buyer bought about 50 million shares in two block deals at an up to 10 per cent premium to Monday's close, the stock ended3.5 per cent higher. Auto sub-index on the BSE was the top sectoral gainer, up 1 per cent.

Gains in FMCG, IT and oil & gas shares also added to the gains in the benchmark indices. 

From the Nifty basket of shares, 34 ended higher while 17 closed lower.

Tech Mahindra, Bharat Petroleum, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, ITC, Wipro, Bank of Baroda, Tata Power, Yes Bank and State Bank of India were also among the gainers in the Nifty.

On the other hand, UltraTech Cement was the top Nifty loser, down 2.8 per cent to settles at Rs 3,364. Hindalco, BHEL, GAIL India, Tata Steel and ACC were also among the laggards.

The broader markets witnessed selling pressure as BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices ended on a negative note.

The Sensex ended 183 points higher at 26,697.82 and Nifty advanced 51 points to settle at 8,222. (With agency inputs)