Nifty Infra index nears 52-week low ahead of RBI monetary policy

Bharti Infratel, NBCC, NHPC, Suzlon Energy, BHEL, Siemens and Adani Power from the Nifty Infra index hitting their respective 52-week lows on the NSE today.

Shares of infrastructure companies were under pressure with Nifty Infra index falling nearly 2% on Tuesday, trading close to its 52-week low ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) second monetary policy review of 2018-19 on Wednesday, June 6, 2018.

At 02:10 pm; Nifty Infra index, the largest loser among thematic indices, down 1.9% at 3,197, as compared to 0.66% decline in the Nifty 50 index. The infra index hit an intra-day low of 3,192, trading at its lowest level since September 28, 2017. The index is less than 1% away from its 52-week low of 3,167 touched on June 28, 2017 in intra-day trade.

Bharti Infratel, NBCC, NHPC, Suzlon Energy, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Siemens and Adani Power from the Nifty Infra index hitting their respective 52-week lows on the NSE today.

The S&P BSE India Infrastructure index was trading 1.7% lower at 215, quoting close to its 52-week low of 211 recorded on June 27, 2017 in intra-day trade.

Sadbhav Engineering, Adani Transmission, NCC, SpiceJet and Aban Offshore from the index were down in the range of 5% to 7%, while Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Reliance Infrastructure and CESC down between 2% and 4% on the BSE.

An increasing number of economists expect the RBI to raise interest rates on Wednesday, a Reuters poll found, but most still think the central bank will stay on hold and use this week’s meeting to prepare for an August hike.

“With no additional data point on inflation, inflationary expectations would play an important role. These would only be in the upward direction. Therefore, there would be no rate change this time,” rating agency CARE Ratings said in recent note.

The tone would be hawkish and this would likely to be the consensus among the members. There could be an upward revision in inflationary projections for the year. The April policy projected CPI inflation of 4.7-5.1% for H1 and 4.4% in H2. The first half projection is to be revised upwards to 4.9%-5.1% and H2 to 4.6%, it added.