Nifty Settles Above 8,750 After RBI Cuts Repo Rate By 0.25%

Sensex rose for third day in a row while broader Nifty closed above its crucial psychological level of 8,750 after the Reserve Bank of India in a surprise move cut repo rate by 0.25 per cent.

For most part of the day, the Sensex and Nifty traded on a subdued note as rate sensitive stocks were under pressure ahead of RBI's monetary policy statement. However, after a surprise rate cut by the RBI, rate sensitive banking, real estate and auto stocks witnessed buying interest.

The Sensex ended 91 points higher at 28,335 and Nifty advanced 31 points to close at 8,769.

PSU banking stocks came in high demand after RBI's surprise rate cut. The PSU Bank index on the NSE rose as much as 1.8 per cent. Realty, auto and Bank Nifty also jumped 0.1-0.4 per cent each.

From the Nifty basket of shares, 35 ended higher while 16 settled lower.

ONGC was the top Nifty gainer, stock surged 5 per cent to close at 274. GAIL India, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were also among the prominent gainers.

On the other hand, Zee Entertainment, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Ambuja Cements and HUL were among the laggards.

3.20 p.m.: Markets gained momentum again as buying was seen in rate-sensitive stocks like banking, auto and realty stocks. The Sensex was up 114 points at 28,357 and the Nifty traded 40 points higher at 8,778. The Nifty Bank sub-index of NSE was up 0.53 per cent, while Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty indices traded 0.23 and 0.57 per cent respectively. 

3.00 p.m.: Markets witnessed profit booking, the Sensex was up 66 points at 28,309 and the Nifty was up 20 points at 8,758 as index heavy weights like HUL, Coal India, L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra witnessed profit booking. 

2.45 p.m.: Banking stocks witnessed buying. The Nifty Bank index was up 0.43 per cent led by gains in SBI, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, which were up around 1 per cent each. However, other rate-sensitive stocks like realty and auto did not see much action. 

2.33 p.m.: Sensex was up over 100 points as the RBI cut key lending rates (repo rate) by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent.  

2.28 p.m.: Sensex up 42 points at 28,285 and the Nifty50 index traded 6.5 points higher at 8,745. The Nifty bank turned flat just ahead of the monetary policy announcement. 

1:56 p.m.: From the Nifty basket of shares, 36 were advancing while 15 were declining. GAIL India, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Power, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma and Yes Bank were among the gainers. On the other hand, Zee Entertainment, Coal India, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ambuja Cements were among the laggards.

1:43 p.m.: The broader markets were also trading on a cautious note ahead of RBI's monetary policy review. The BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.2 per cent while small-cap index was up 0.4 per cent.

1:21 p.m.: Shares of Manali Petrochemicals on Tuesday surged nearly 12 per cent after the company announced acquisition of UK-based Notedome for about Rs 120 crore. 

The scrip soared 11.78 per cent to Rs 42.20 - its 52-week high - on BSE.

12:40 p.m.: PSU banking shares were witnessing selling pressure. The PSU Bank index on the NSE declined 3,182; Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank and Andhra Bank were among the laggards from this space.

12:03 p.m.: Stock markets erased most of the intraday gains and were trading on a flat note on the back of weakness in banking, realty, capital goods, auto and consumer durable stocks ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review. The Sensex was up 0.06 per cent or 17 points at 28,260 and Nifty was at 8,746, up 8 points or 0.09 per cent.

Also Read: 10 Stock Trading Bets From Analysts For Today

11:56 a.m.: Ajay Bodke, CEO & chief portfolio manager at Prabhudas Lilladher, says, "In our view RBI would refrain from cutting rates in its meeting today though the consumer inflation has been trending down for the last few months and is well within RBI's comfort zone of 4 per cent /-2 per cent. Ample rains after two years of drought resulting in expected bountiful kharif harvest post October-November 2016 as well as a rise in water table & strong reservoir levels across India presaging a strong rabi season would lead to further softening in CPI & food inflation allowing more leeway to the Central bank in its policy of monetary accommodation.

We are expecting that rates would come down by atleast 50 basis points over the next six months. Although OPEC has announced an agreement to cut oil production to 32.5 to 33 million barrels/day from the current production of 33.4 million barrels/day after reconciling the views mainly of Iran and Saudi Arabia, there are serious doubts about the rigorous adherence to the production cuts in view of severe fiscal pressures faced by the oil exporters necessitating large pumping of oil."

11:13 a.m.: Gujarat NRE Coke was the top gainer from the small-cap space, up 20 per cent at Rs 2.79. Swan Energy, Mastek, Hercules Hoists, High Ground Enterprise, Manali Petchem, Castex Technologies and Madhucon Projects were also among the gainers.

11:04 a.m.: Shares of Wockhardt Ltd jumped as much as 4.75 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs. 937 after the US drug regulator excluded one of its drugs from import alert it had issued to the company in August.

Mumbai-based drug maker post market hours on Monday said that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has excluded Ceftriazone Sodium from import alert issued earlier in August against its active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility in Ankleshwar.

10:14 a.m.: Stock markets came off the intraday high levels onthe back of selling pressure in select banking, realty and capital goods stocks. Sensex was up 67 points at 28,310 and Nifty was up 18 points at 8,756.

9:51 a.m.: Banking stocks edge lower ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review. Bank Nifty slips 0.15 per cent 23 points to 19,566; IndusInd Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of India were among the laggards.

9:42 a.m.: The broader markets were mostly in-line with the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.45 per cent and small-cap index advanced 0.65 per cent; Wockhardt was the top gainer from the mid-cap space, up 4 per cent. Amara Raja Batteries, United Breweries, Havells India, Pidilite Industries, Oberoi Realty, Tata Communications and Shriram City Union Finance were also among the gainers from this space.

9:31 a.m.: Sensex rose over 150 points while 50-share Nifty moved above it crucial psychological level of 8,750 in opening deals ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review.

Market players will be keenly observing Dr Patel's views as he has made no public appearances since becoming governor on September 4. They will also closely scrutinize how the panel members vote, trying to spot the doves and hawks among the six panel members.

Meanwhile, in opening trades, buying was seen in oil & gas, healthcare, IT, oil & gas and metal shares. At the same time, banking shares were on the sidelines ahead of RBI's decision on interest rates.

From the Nifty basket of shares, 43 were advancing while 8 were declining. Hero MotoCorp was among the top Nifty gainers, the stock jumped as much as 2 per cent to hit intraday high of Rs 3,594 after the two-wheeler maker said that it sold a record 6,74,961 units in September.

ONGC, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Bharti Infratel, Aurobindo Pharma, GAIL India and Cipla were also among the gainers.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Coal India were among the notable Nifty laggards.

As of 9:30 a.m., Sensex traded 127 points higher at 28,370 and Nifty was at 8,775, up 37 points.

8:39 a.m.: Sensex and Nifty are set to open on a flat note ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review which is due later in the day.

The Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Exchange also indicated a muted opening for Indian markets. The SGX Nifty was down 10 points or 0.1 per cent at 8,778.

Meanwhile, Asian share markets were trading on a mixed note. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.88 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.12 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.5 per cent.

Overnight, the fourth quarter got off to a weak start for US stock investors on Monday, with financials, consumer staples and utilities pulling the S&P 500 lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 per cent to end the session at 18,253.85 points and the S&P 500 lost 0.33 per cent to 2,161.2. 

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.21 per cent to 5,300.87 points.

Back home, the Reserve Bank of India will hold its monetary policy review today, with the newly formed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) fixing interest rates for the first time. This will be also the first policy of Urjit Patel, who assumed charge of the RBI last month from Raghuram Rajan.

Market players will be keenly observing Dr Patel's views as he has made no public appearances since becoming governor on September 4. They will also closely scrutinize how the panel members vote, trying to spot the doves and hawks among the six panel members.

Economists are divided whether there will be a cut in the RBI's key policy rate, which has been kept unchanged since April. About 60 per cent of the 44 analysts polled by Reuters are expecting the RBI to hold rates and the rest expecting a cut of at least 25 basis points.

On Monday, the foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 34 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 198 crore.

Meanwhile, Delhi-based HPL Electric & Power will make its stock market debut today after successfully completing its Rs 361-crore initial public offering last week.

The company's IPO was oversubscribed a little over eight times during September 22-26.

(With Agency inputs)