Markets Turn Flat Ahead Of RBI Policy; Rate-Sensitive Banking, Auto Stocks Subdued
The markets have erased their early-morning gains and have turned flat ahead of the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's sixth bi-monthly policy review of the current fiscal year. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das-led Monetary Policy Committee will release its sixth bi-monthly policy statement of 2019-20 at the end of a three-day review meeting which started on February 4. In the statement, to be released at 11:45 am today, the RBI will announce its decision on the repo rate, which is the key interest rate at which it lends short-term funds to commercial banks.
At 11:00 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was quoting at 41,171, higher by 28 points and Nifty was at 12,108, up 18 points. The BSE Sensex had touched a high of 41,342 earlier this morning.
The rate-sensitive stocks are trading virtually unchanged as they seek direction from the policy statement. The BSE Bankex is flat at 35,461 and BSE auto is also quiet at 18,263. In the BSE Banking index, SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are trading flat at Rs 310, Rs 537 and Rs 1239 respectively. And in the auto space, Maruti Suzuki and M&M are unchanged at Rs 7040 and 584 respectively. Tata Motors has, however, slid 4 per cent at Rs 176.
On the global front, the death toll from a new coronavirus in mainland China jumped by 73 to 563 on Thursday, its third consecutive record daily rise, as experts intensified efforts to find a vaccine for a disease that has shut down Chinese cities and forced thousands more into quarantine around the world.
On Wednesday, the domestic markets had continued their rally for the third straight day, with the Sensex ending 353.28 points - or 0.87 per cent - higher at 41,142.66 and the Nifty settling at 12,089.15, up 109.50 points - or 0.91 per cent - from its previous close.
The market breadth favoured gains with an advance-decline ratio of 2:1 at the time. On the BSE, 1208 stocks moved higher, while 812 traded lower out of a total of 2,127 traded stocks.