- Indian indices closed higher, extending Thursday’s gains.
- RBI’s unchanged policy and improved outlook boosted sentiment.
- Reliance, SBI led gains despite continued FII selling.
The Indian benchmark indices witnessed gains on Thursday as the Sensex increased over 200 points to close trade at more than 78,785 and the Nifty ended over 11 points higher to end at 24,636 at 3:30 PM.
In the 30-share BSE Sensex, among the top gainers were stocks such as Reliance, State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, ICICI Bank and Eternal. Meanwhile, the laggards included stocks like Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Asian Paints, Adani Ports and Axis Bank.
In the broader markets, the Nifty Smallcap 50 gained 1.04 per cent and the Nifty Midcap 50 declined 0.51 per cent as volatility rose. Sectorally, the Nifty Realty index fell 1.32 per cent and the Nifty PSU Bank index increased 2.20 per cent.
Previously, during the early morning session, the Sensex started trading above 78,700, climbing close to 150 points, while the NSE Nifty50 opened the session almost flat at 24,627, as of 9:15 AM.
Closing Auction Session
Benchmark equity indices ended higher on Thursday, extending gains despite divergence witnessed since Monday following the introduction of a new auction mechanism for shares with futures and options (F&O) contracts.
The new Closing Auction Session (CAS) in the equity cash segment became operational on Monday, introducing an auction-based mechanism for determining the closing prices of eligible stocks. The move aims to make the price discovery process more transparent and robust.
RBI Maintains Status Quo On Policy Rate
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged for the fourth consecutive meeting and retained its neutral stance.
Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the central bank’s next move on interest rates, as well as its policy stance, will be data dependent.
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The six-member Monetary Policy Committee unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent. The committee opted to wait for more clarity on whether higher energy costs arising from the West Asia crisis feed into broader inflationary pressures.
The central bank also marginally raised its GDP growth forecast for the current financial year to 6.7 per cent, while slightly lowering its inflation projection to 5 per cent.
RBI Outlook Strengthens Domestic Market Sentiment
“For domestic markets, the macroeconomic narrative has become incrementally more favourable over recent weeks. The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to maintain its policy stance while upgrading its growth outlook and lowering its inflation forecast reinforces confidence in the resilience of the domestic economy,” Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.
Global Markets Under Pressure
Asian markets traded mostly lower, with South Korea’s KOSPI, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declining sharply, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite edged marginally higher.
US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 0.13 per cent lower at USD 79.35 per barrel.
FIIs Continue Selling
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers, offloading equities worth Rs 943.42 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
On Wednesday, the Sensex had risen 152.05 points, or 0.19 per cent, to close at 78,581, while the Nifty edged up 9.75 points, or 0.04 per cent, to settle at 24,624.65.
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