Photo: The Hindu Business line
Chennai, India (BBN) - The Sensex was trading down by nearly 120 points as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of RBI two-day monetary policy meeting that begins today.
The RBI’s two-day monetary policy review kicks off today and the decision is due tomorrow. The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee is likely to keep the policy repo rate on hold in the upcoming monetary policy review on account of various factors, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Weak Asian cues also dampened the domestic sentiment.
At 11.20 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 115.12 points or 0.35 per cent at 32,754.60 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 33.9 points or 0.33 per cent to 10,093.85.
Among BSE sectoral indices, power index fell the most by 1.21 per cent, followed by metal 1.14 per cent, capital goods 1.06 per cent and consumer durables 1.00 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was up 0.47 per cent and TECk 0.01 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Reliance (+1.05%), Bharti Airtel (+0.63%), Sun Pharma (+0.51%), TCS (+0.45%) and Infosys (+0.44%), while the major losers were PowerGrid (-2.61%), ONGC (-1.96%), Wipro (-1.71%), Tata Steel (-1.7%) and Hero MotoCorp (-1.66%).
Asian shares were subdued as investors' rotation out of technology shares took the toll on some of the region's tech heavyweights although hopes of a major tax cut in the United States underpinned risk sentiment.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were capped by the fall in the region's technology shares, with Samsung Electronics losing 1.5 per cent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent, with semiconductor-related shares such as Tokyo Electron and Shin-etsu Chemical leading the losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had reached a record high on Monday, with banks and retailers surging and technology companies falling as investors realigned their portfolios in hopes of benefiting from expected corporate tax cuts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.24 per cent to end at 24,290.05 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.11 per cent to 2,639.44. Earlier in the session, the S&P 500 had touched a record high. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 72.22 points to end at 6,775.37.
BBN/MMI/ANS