At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 266.61 points or 0.42% to 63,059.49. The Nifty 50 index gained 98.40 points or 0.53% to 18,697.40.

The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.01% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.11%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,278 shares rose and 1,238 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.

The three-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) began on Tuesday, 6 June 2023. The MPC decision will be announced by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on the last day of the meeting, which is Thursday, 8 June 2023. The RBI is reportedly likely to keep the policy repo rate unchanged, drawing comfort from the gradual easing of inflation.

Economy:

According to World Bank report, India will remain the fastest-growing economy (in terms of both aggregate and per capita GDP) of the largest EMDEs.

Growth in India is expected to slow further to 6.3% in FY2023/24 (April-March), a 0.3% point downward revision from January. This slowdown is attributed to private consumption being constrained by high inflation and rising borrowing costs, while government consumption is impacted by fiscal consolidation.

Growth is projected to pick up slightly through FY2025/26 as inflation moves back toward the midpoint of the tolerance range and reforms payoff.

Numbers to track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.03% to 6.979 from previous close of 6.977.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.5175, compared with its close of 82.6000 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 August 2023 settlement fell 0.24% to Rs 59,844.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.03% to 104.15.

The United States 10-year bond yield declined 0.71% to 3.677.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for August 2023 settlement fell 4 cents or 0.05% to $76.25 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal advanced 0.91% to 6,022.05. The index declined 0.14% in a past trading session.

Jindal Stainless (up 1.88%), Tata Steel (up 1.33%), Welspun Corp (up 1.26%), JSW Steel (up 0.95%) and Adani Enterprises (up 0.88%) Steel Authority of India (up 0.78%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.71%), Hindustan Copper (up 0.7%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.6%) and APL Apollo Tubes (up 0.59%) advanced.

On the other hand, Hindustan Zinc (down 0.54%), Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (down 0.26%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Nelco added 0.18% after the company announced a strategic investment in Piscis Networks (Piscis) to enhance its portfolio of satellite communication solutions.

HCL Technologies rose 0.25% after the company announced that it has launched test lab in Chennai, India to enable global telecom infrastructure original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to test and validate 5G solutions.