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Mumbai, India (BBN) - The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading down by over 130 points as investors remained cautious ahead of the RBI's monetary policy to be announced later in the day.
At 1.00pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 133.18 points or 0.44 per cent at 29,841.06 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 40.7 points or 0.44 per cent at 9,224.45, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Brokers said besides a weak trend in global markets after Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggested the US central bank was considering tightening monetary policy, caution ahead of Reserve Bank’s monetary policy to be announced later in the day influenced the sentiment.
Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index fell the most by 1.21 per cent, followed by capital goods 0.85 per cent, consumer durables 0.79 per cent and healthcare 0.68 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was up 0.88 per cent, oil & gas 0.48 per cent, IT 0.16 per cent and TECk 0.01 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Bajaj Auto (+1.27 per cent), Axis Bank (+0.99 per cent), Reliance (+0.88 per cent), Infosys (+0.59 per cent) and Power Grid (+0.54 per cent), while the major losers were ICICI Bank (-1.7 per cent), L&T (-1.46 per cent), ITC (-1.38 per cent), Coal India (-1.36 per cent) and Adani Ports (-1.34 per cent).
Stocks fell and bonds rose in Asia on Thursday, with risk appetite soured by signs the Federal Reserve might start paring its king-sized asset holdings later this year just as the chance of early US fiscal stimulus faded further.
Investors were also wary ahead of a potentially tense meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the first between the world's two most powerful leaders.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.8 per cent.
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