 "markets")
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares edged higher on Friday after the central bank kept its key lending rate unchanged at a record low, opting to support post-pandemic economy growth despite rising inflation due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.3% at 17,691, as of 0443 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.25% to 59,181.17.
The monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India held the lending rate, or the repo rate, at 4% and voted to keep its monetary policy stance "accommodative".
The decision comes against the backdrop of several global peers, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, starting to raise rates to counter a price surge.
Even though India's inflation has breached the 6% upper limit of the central bank's target range for two months, economists polled by Reuters expect the RBI to wait at least a few more months to raise interest rates.
For nearly two years, the RBI has kept the key repo rate at 4% and stuck with an accomodative stance so that the economic recovery is firmly entrenched.
India's 10-year benchmark bond yield rose to 6.973% after the policy decision, while the rupee strengthened against the dollar to 75.86.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
