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Markets slipped further in noon trades, post the RBI Policy, as profit taking emerged in financials, ITC and L&T counters.
In broader markets, the midcap index was down 0.5% while the smallcap index was flat with a positive bias, holding to some of its opening gains.
At 1230 hrs, the Sensex was down 80 points at 22,306 and the Nifty gave off 25 points to trade at 6,680.
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(Updated at 1235 hrs)
Benchmark indices continue to maintain the flat trend post the announcement of Reserve Bank of India's First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2014-15.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its first bi-monthly monetary policy has decided to hold the key policy rate or the repo rate at 8 per cent but cautioned that inflation risks could resurface.
A poll by Business Standard of bankers, economists and debt market experts had said the central bank was expected to hold rate due to softening on both retail and wholesale inflation rates.
RBI’s focus is now more on Consumer Price Index-linked inflation, as recommended in the Urjit Patel committee report. Retail inflation eased more than expected, to a 25-month low, in February. It rose 8.1 per cent from a year earlier, compared with 8.79 per cent in January. Even Wholesale Price Index-based inflation had eased to a nine-month low in February, to 4.68 per cent.
By 11:15, the Nifty was down 5 points at 6,700 and the Sensex was down by 10 points at 22,377.
The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include TCS, Wipro, ONGC, Sesa Sterlite, Dr Reddy’s, NTPC, Tata Motors and M&M.
