Sensex, Nifty End Flat A Day Ahead Of RBI Monetary Policy Decision
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended little changed ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision tomorrow. The benchmarks staged a gap down opening however weakness in heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries and ITC led to the benchmarks coming off intraday highs in noon trading. Investors have turned cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision and weekly expiry of future and option contracts due tomorrow, analysts said. During the day, Sensex traded in a band of over 550 points and Nifty touched an intraday high of 11,225.65 and low of 11,064.05.
The Sensex ended 24 points or 0.07 per cent lower at 37,663 and Nifty gained 6 points to close at 11,102.
Worsening economic outlook as coronavirus cases soar has raised the chance the central bank will cut interest rates at its policy review on Thursday, in spite of inflationary pressures. Around two-thirds of economists in a poll by news agency Reuters expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut the repo rate by another 25 basis points (bps) on August 6 and once more next quarter to a record low of 3.50 per cent.
Investors will also watch out for RBI's decision on moratorium on loans announced in the wake of Covid-19 induced lockdowns.
Meanwhile, in today's session, Metal, auto and media shares witnessed buying while pharma, state-owned banks, FMCG shares witnessed selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed buying interest as the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.6 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 1.2 per cent.
Hindalco was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 8.65 per cent tto close at Rs 176. Tata Steel, Eicher Motors, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, UPL, HDFC Life, Power Gris, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tech Mahindra and Nestle India were among the losers.
(With inputs from Reuters)