Mumbai, India (BBN) - The Sensex and Nifty fell nearly 0.4 per cent as the Reserve Bank of India sprung a surprise and did not deliver the expected 25 basis points cut in repo rate, its key policy rate, at the conclusion of its sixth bimonthly meet.
The repo rate will remain at 6.25 per cent, reports The Hindu Business Line quoting PTI.
Domestic markets plunged as soon as news broke that the expected cut in repo rate did not come about.
The BSE's sensitive index which was down about 47 points a few minutes before the release of the policy plunged another 120 points within a minute of the policy's release.
At 2:31pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 110.11 points or 0.39 per cent at 28,225.05 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 30.25 points or 0.34 per cent at 8,738.05.
Among BSE sectoral indices, banking index fell the most by 1.33 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.94 per cent, realty 0.71 per cent and healthcare 0.67 per cent.
n the other hand, consumer durables index was the star-performer and was up 2.22 per cent, oil & gas 0.28 per cent, auto 0.16 per cent and metal 0.01 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were TCS (+1.44 per cent), Coal India (+1.27 per cent), Tata Motors (+1.22 per cent), M&M (+1.22 per cent) and GAIL (+0.97 per cent), while the major losers were Dr Reddy's (-1.54%), HDFC (-1.33 per cent), ITC (-1.17 per cent), Axis Bank (-1.07 per cent) and ICICI Bank (-0.99 per cent).
Shares of Tata Steel surged after it was back in the black by posting a consolidated net profit of Rs 231.40 crore for the December quarter.
ITC shares were down as the government had sold its 2 per cent stake in the FMCG firm that was held through SUUTI.
Shares of Tata group firm Titan Co Ltd also climbed after the company reported 13 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 255.75 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016.
Asian share markets retreated on Wednesday and the euro was pressured as doubts over the policies of US President Donald Trump and an election looming in France sapped investor confidence.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked down 0.3 per cent, slipping further from Monday’s four-month high, led by 0.9 per cent fall in South Korean shares.
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