 "Sensex, Nifty remain choppy; RBI policy awaited")
Benchmark indices continue to trade in a narrow range with positive bias as investors have turned cautious ahead of RBI monetary policy to be announced later in the day today.
At 12:40 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 24 points trading at 28,267 levels. On the other hand, the Nifty50 index edged 7 points higher to 8,745 levels. The broader markets have shown a similar trend, with the S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices posting gains below 0.5% each.
"We foresee 25bps cut in repo rate in the forthcoming monetary policy review on October 04, 2016. Recall, that the RBI maintained status quo in August, citing rise in inflation and upside risks to 5% projection of March 2017. Since then, headline inflation has fallen sharply and more importantly, further disinflation is in store over next few months as pulses prices deflate," says a recent report by Edelweiss.
"One may argue that the RBI would wait till December for further confirmation of disinflation trend, but we think the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be uncomfortable cutting rates very close to a potential Fed rate hike," it adds.
BUZZING STOCKS
GAIL, ONGC and Tata Steel have emerged as the top gainers on Sensex, posting gains between 1.5%-4%. On the other hand, Coal India, Larsen and Toubro and Axis Bank are the top losers, slipping down between 1%-2%.
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Manali Petrochemicals has rallied 12% to Rs 42.20, extending its Monday’s over 15% surge on the BSE, after the announced the acquisition of Notedome Limited, a System House based in UK for a total consideration of about Rs 120 crore.
HPL Electric & Power made its debut at the exchanges. The stock listed at Rs 190, 6% below its issue price of Rs 202 per share, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares shrugged off a sluggish start and pushed higher on Tuesday, with Japanese markets leading the way after an upbeat US manufacturing survey bolstered
the dollar.
Australian shares slipped 0.2% after Australia's central bank kept its cash rate steady at 1.5% on Tuesday, a widely expected decision as it assesses the impact of its May and August rate cuts.
Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 gained 1% as the dollar rose against the yen. Hang Sheng edged up by a mere 0.1%. Markets in China are on holiday this week.
With Reuters Inputs