Business news: Equity benchmark Nifty touched a milestone of 21,000 in the afternoon trade on Friday (December 8), and the Sensex scaled its all-time intraday high of 69,888.33, soon after the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to keep policy rates unchanged in line with market expectations. The 50-share benchmark index opened on a bullish note, after taking a breather on Thursday, and rose to 21,006.10. As many as 25 stocks were trading in the green, and 24 stocks defied the broader market and were trading in the negative territory.
In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap Select index was trading 0.1 per cent higher at 9,975.60 points, Nifty Bank was trading up 0.48 per cent, and Nifty Financial Services advanced 21,133.30 points.
The major gainers in the benchmark Nifty index include LTIMindtree (3.17 per cent), followed by JSW steel (2.97 per cent), HCL Tech (2.96 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.41 per cent) and L&T (1.32 per cent).
Among the laggards, Adani Ports declined the most and was down 1.55 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance (down 1.37 per cent), Adani Enterprises (down 1.23 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.18 per cent).
Among the Sensex scrips, 19 stocks advanced, and 11 stocks declined.
Market analysts said the equity market welcomed the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision.
"Monetary policy was on expected lines. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept its stance the same as withdrawal from accommodation to ensure taming inflation under target. However, at the same time, the RBI highlighted the risk of over-tightening in the backdrop of global slowdown," said Gaurav Dua, Head – Capital Market Strategy, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
This is despite the increase in GDP forecast to 7 per cent for FY24 compared to 6.5 per cent earlier.
"Hence, it is more of a balanced view or neutral stance as compared to the inflation-focused commentary earlier. We remain positive on equity markets in the near-to-medium term with real estate, banks, consumer and engineering/capital goods as preferred sectors," Dua said.
RBI keeps repo rate unchanged
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept the repo rate unchanged for the fifth time in a row as the monetary policy committee maintained a status quo.
Making the announcement, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, "...The Monetary Policy Committee decided unanimously to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5%. Consequently, the Standing Deposit Facility rate remains at 6.25% and the Marginal Standing Facility rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75%."
The three-day bi-monthly monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting of the RBI began on Wednesday. The RBI typically conducts six bimonthly meetings in a financial year, where it deliberates interest rates, money supply, inflation outlook, and various macroeconomic indicators. For the fourth straight occasion, the monetary policy committee, through its October review meeting, unanimously decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent, thus maintaining the status quo. In its past four meetings, it held the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent. The repo rate is the rate of interest at which RBI lends to other banks.
(With PTI inputs)
