The domestic equity indices retreated from their record levels on Wednesday to settle in the red after the Reserve Bank of India increased its key lending rate.
The RBI has raised its key benchmark lending rate by 25 basis point to 6.5 per cent in its third monetary policy review of 2018-19.
Besides the RBI rate hike, a decline in the manufacturing sector macro-economic data -- Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI -- also dampened investors' sentiments.
According to market analysts, heavy selling pressure was witnessed in auto and banking stocks.
At 3.30 p.m., the wider Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange provisionally closed at 11,346.20 points, lower by 10.30 or 0.09 per cent from its previous close. It had touched an all-time high of 11,390.55 points earlier in the day.
The barometer S&P BSE Sensex which had opened at 37,643.87 points, closed at 37,521.62 points, lower by 84.96 points or 0.23 per cent from its previous close of 37,606.58 points. It touched a fresh intra-day high of 37,711.87 points and a low of 37,432.91 points.
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The top gainers on the BSE were Coal India, Tata Consultancy Services, Sun Pharma, ITC and Power Grid while Vedanta, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel lost the most.
--IANS
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