Rate sensitive shares trade mixed as RBI hikes repo rate by 35 bps to 6.25%

At 10:35 AM; Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Private Bank indices were up in the range of 0.10% to 0.90%; while Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty indices slipped up to 0.2%.

Shares of rate sensitive sectors such as financials, automobiles and real estate traded on a mixed note after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday hiked the repo rate by 35 basis points (bps) to 6.25 per cent.

RBI also lowered its GDP growth forecast for FY23 to 6.8 per cent from 7 per cent earlier. The policy rate is now at the highest level since August 2018. The RBI continued to keep the rate hike stance unchanged at “withdrawal of accommodation”.

At 10:35 AM, the Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Private Bank indices were up in the range of 0.10 per cent to 0.90 per cent. While, Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty indices were down 0.22 per cent and 0.15 per cent, respectively. In comparison, the Nifty 50 was up marginally 0.06 per cent at 18,653.

Central Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra from the PSU space were up between 3 per cent and 8 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Power Finance Corporation, Shirram Transport Finance, ICICI Bank and REC from the financials trading higher in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

However, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra from the automobiles, and Macrotech Developers, Oberoi Realty, Brigade Enterprises and DFL from the realty were down by up to 1 per cent on the NSE.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley believes the rally in public sector or state-owned (SoE) banks has more legs to run on. “SoE banks have done well, and we expect continued strong performance helped by higher margins, sustained loan growth and improving operating leverage over the next few years,” the US-based brokerage has said in a note.