Sensex climbs 120 points ahead of RBI policy meet

The benchmark Sensex rose almost 120 points in early trade on optimistic buying by investors ahead of RBI policy review scheduled for Wednesday.

Firm Asian cues tracking record closing in the US as worries on Italy's political uncertainty faded, bolstered sentiment.

Rising for the second straight day, the 30-share index was trading higher by 119.88 points, or 0.45%, to 26,468.98, with realty, power, oil and gas, capital goods, PSU and IT stocks leading the gains.

The gauge had gained 118.44 points in the previous session.

The NSE Nifty also gained 45.30 points, or 0.55%, to 8,174.05.

Brokers said that raising of bets by investors and domestic institutional investors ahead of RBI's bi-monthly monetary policy review and a firming trend at other Asian markets added to the positive mood.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.75% while Japan's Nikkei surged 0.52% in early trade today. Shanghai Composite too rose 0.08%. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.24% higher in yesterday's trade.