MARKET WRAP: Sensex slips 71 pts as RBI holds repo rate; financials decline

All that happened in the markets today

Markets ended a volatile trading session in the negative territory on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) paused during the fifth bi-monthly monetray policy and kept the repo rate unchanged a 5.15 per cent. It, however, sharply revised the FY20 gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to 5 per cent from previously projected growth rate of 6.1 per cent on weak domestic and global demand. 

The RBI, in its policy statement, said it would maintain the 'accommodative' stance as long as it was necessary to revive growth, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target band of 4 per cent +/- 2 per cent. READ MORE

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed at 40,780 level, down 71 points or 0.17 per cent. Information Technology stocks including TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra were among the top gainers among the Sensex pack after the domestic currency fell against the US dollar in the intra-day trade. On the downside, metal and financial counters were under pressure.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index settled at 12,018 level, down 25 points or 0.21 per cent.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Media index ended as the top performer, up 3 per cent on NSE, while Nifty Metal index, down 2 per cent, was the worst performer.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE mid-cap index slipped 0.23 per cent to settle at 14,868.85. The S&P BSE small-cap index, however, ended 0.1 per cent higher at 13,468.89 level.

BUZZING STOCKS

Shares of rate sensitive sectors, mainly banking and automobiles, erased their early morning gains and were trading by up to 2 per cent, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained status quo on repo rate at 5.15 per cent. READ MORE

Shares of Polycab India continued their upward journey, and hit a new high of Rs 1,090.8, up 9.8 per cent on the BSE on Thursday, on expectation of strong earnings going forward. The company was included in the MSCI Global Small Cap Index with effect from November 26, 2019. READ MORE

GLOBAL CUES

Stock markets in Asia inched up on Thursday on the possibility that China and the United States may soon seal a “phase one” deal to end their 17-month trade war, but conflicting messages from US President Donald Trump kept a lid on the advance.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.5 per cent, Japan's Nikkei stock index rose 0.7 per cent, and Australian shares were up 1.2 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

3:45 PM

Sectoral trends at NSE at close

3:44 PM

Sensex heatmap at close

3:33 PM

Closing Bell

-- The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed at 40,780 level, down 71 points or 0.17 per cent.

-- On the NSE, the Nifty50 index settled at 12,011 level, down 33 points or 0.27 per cent.

3:21 PM

NEWS ALERT | Coal ministry approves allocation of 5 coal mines put up on auction in Nov: CNBC TV18

2:58 PM

Whirlpool enters list of top 100 Indian firms by m-cap; stock hits new high

Shares of Whirlpool of India continued their northward journey for the fourth straight day on Thursday and hit a new high of Rs 2,407, up 4 per cent, on the BSE on consistently strong financial performance. In the past four trading days, the stock has rallied 12 per cent, as compared to less than 1 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A sharp gain in the market price has seen the consumer electronics company enter the list of top 100 companies with highest market capitalisation. READ MORE

2:56 PM

Sector watch | Metals lose shine; index trades over 2% lower

2:48 PM

Market check | Sharp slide in Sensex

2:40 PM

Stocks that hit 52-week high on BSE500 today

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	52 WK HIGH	CHG(rs)	CHG(%)
GUJARAT GAS	223.00	227.55	6.35	2.93
ICICI BANK	529.95	537.30	0.60	0.11
MAS FINANC SER	769.55	782.35	51.70	7.20
NESCO	644.40	666.30	34.55	5.67
POLYCAB INDIA	1057.25	1090.80	63.85	6.43

2:24 PM

IT stocks under pressure

2:23 PM

Market check

2:17 PM

NEWS ALERT | Pennar Inds bags order worth Rs 302 cr

2:07 PM

Expert Comment :: Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities on RBI policy outcome

The outcome of the MPC meet of the RBI indicates that the RBI is worried about the rising inflation which may not come down till atleast February 2020 and GDP may not rise materially till Q4FY20 as domestic and external demand conditions have remained weak. Hence it thought prudent not to cut rates at this juncture. Instead it has nudged the Govt to cut interest rates on small savings scheme so that interest rate transmission becomes faster. Capacity utilization that has touched a low of 68.9% in Q2FY20 needs to revive soon. It has also tightened norms for UCBs. Though the stock market participants could be disappointed by the no-repo-rate-cut action, we think that the participants are mature enough to understand the prudence of the Central Bank which means that the markets may not react downwards sharply due to this disappointment.  

1:45 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Ravikant Bhat, Senior Analyst - BFSI, IndiaNivesh

‘’RBI MPC surprised with a unanimous preference for status quo on policy rates, despite observing there was room for a rate cut, due to, as Governor stated, slow transmission of earlier rate cuts. The onus clearly shifts to banks, which in our view, shall have to hasten transmission on non-repo linked loans’’.

1:42 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Nikhil Gupta, Chief Economist, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

As against almost unanimous expectation, the RBI has kept all policy interest rates unchanged. Repo and reverse repo rates stay at 5.15% and 4.90% respectively. Decision was taken with 6-0 vote. 2HFY20 real GDP growth forecast is cut from 6.6-7.2% to 4.9-5.5%. Growth forecast for 1HFY21 also revised down from 7.2% to ~6%. Inflation forecasts for Nov-Mar FY20 revised down from 3.5-3.7% earlier to 4.7-5.1% now and it is expected to be at 3.8-4.0% in 1HFY21. Overall, today's status quo increases the credibility of RBI's inflation mandate. We had always believed that today's cut would be the last rate cut in this cycle. We continue to maintain that there will be no more rate cuts now unless inflation falls back towards 4%. It implies that any rate cut is unlikely in the next one year.

1:29 PM

S&P BSE Midcap index trade flat with negative bias