Photo: The Hindu
Chennai, India (BBN) - The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged over 210 points as the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee has decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.0 per cent but has raised the inflation forecast for remainder of the current financial year to 4.3-4.7 per cent.
According to RBI, the decision of the MPC is consistent with a neutral stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting growth, reports The Hindu Business Line.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex closed lower by 205.26 points or 0.63 per cent at 32,597.18 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended down 74.15 points or 0.73 per cent at 10,044.10.
Barring IT and TECk, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the negative zone. Among them, metal index fell the most by 2.03 per cent, followed by PSU 1.32 per cent, banking 1.23 per cent and infrastructure 1.15 per cent. Only IT index was up 0.32 per cent and TECk 0.03 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Reliance (+1.76%), Maruti (+1.42%), HUL (+1.05%), Infosys (+0.61%) and Coal India (+0.26%), while the major losers were Sun Pharma (-2.31%), State Bank of India (-2.21%), ICICI Bank (-1.96%), HDFC (-1.78%) and Bajaj Auto (-1.65%).
Interest-sensitive stocks took a beating, dragging the BSE banking index down by 1.23 per cent. SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda and YES Bank fell up to 1.44 per cent.
Meanwhile, as per provisional data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs. 1,470.56 crore yesterday. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth a net Rs. 1,074.39 crore.
Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday, pressured by losses on Wall Street as the technology sector stuttered yet again after a brief rebound, while the dollar sagged on lower long-term US yields.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched down 0.2 per cent. Australian stocks and South Korea's KOSPI were down 0.2 per cent, respectively. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.5 per cent.
Wall Street fell on Tuesday as a technology rebound lost steam and Walt Disney Co shares dipped, while investors assessed how a Republican US tax overhaul would impact corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.45 per cent to end at 24,180.64 points, while the S&P 500 ended down 0.37 per cent at 2,629.57. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.19 per cent to 6,762.21.
BBN/MMI/ANS