Mumbai: On Thursday,  BSE benchmark Sensex rise over 150 points in early trade on sustained buying by domestic and foreign institutional investors, ahead of RBI's policy outcome later in the day. The 30-share index was trading 161.53 points, or 0.44 per cent, higher at 37,136.76. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 33.05 points, or 0.30 per cent to 11,095.50.

However on Wednesday, the Sensex climbed 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 may change its policy stance to 'neutral' from 'calibrated tightening' on low inflation footprint, even as a rate cut was ruled out by many experts. While the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to announce its policy decision later in the day.

also read Early trade record a fall in Rupees by 20 paise against Dollar

Early in Morning trade , 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. On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.08 per cent lower on Wednesday. The rupee, meanwhile, depreciated 10 paise against US dollar to 71.66. The benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.27 per cent to USD 62.52 per barrel.