The domestic stock markets have opened firm, extending the upmove witnessed on Monetary policy day, due to cautiously positive cues from the global market front. At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex had reclaimed the 50,000 mark to trade at 50,000.81, higher by 328 points or 0.65 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 14,914.50, up 94.70 points or 0.66 per cent. The broader markets are also trading firm, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap indices gaining around half a per cent each.
Overnight, the Dow Jones rose 16.02 points and S&P 500 gained 6.01 points, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 9.54 points.
Meanwhile, oil futures inched higher on Wednesday on an improving global economic outlook, but gains were capped by rising gasoline inventories and fears that new coronavirus outbreaks will weaken a global recovery in fuel demand.
Brent crude futures settled at $63.16 a barrel, up 42 cents, or 0.7 per cent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $59.77 a barrel, gaining 44 cents, or 0.7 per cent.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex rallied 460.37 points and Nifty climbed 135.50 points after the RBI kept the key policy rates unchanged in the first monetary policy of fiscal 2022.