India’s benchmark indices rose on Thursday, snapping a two-day losing streak. The BSE Sensex rose 32.12 points to finish at 33,250.93 while the NSE Nifty closed 5.80 points higher at 10,308.95.

The optimism in the markets was because of the Goods and Services Tax Council meeting scheduled later in the day. Indirect tax rates are expected to be slashed for some sectors.

The top gainers on the BSE were Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel. The top five losers were ITC, Coal India, ONGC, Lupin and HDFC.

At the Nifty, the biggest gainer was Indiabulls Housing Finance. The other stocks that did well were Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Bosch. The poorest performers on the NSE were ITC, Coal India, ONGC, Bharti Infratel and GAIL.

Among other top Asian markets, the Hong Kong Hang Seng rose nearly 229 points and the Shanghai index 12.33 points. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 45.11 points and the Taiwan TSEC 50 Index declined 75.72 points.

The Indian rupee was trading one paise down at Rs 64.95 against the United States dollar at 4.32 pm.