Market wrap, Oct 4: Sensex slips 434 pts after RBI policy review; banks dip

A 25 basis point (bps)-rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday failed to cheer market participants as concerns over slowing economic growth dented investor sentiment. In its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy meet, the RBI's monetary policy committee (MPC) did cut the repo rate to 5.15 per cent for the fifth consecutive time; however, a sharp reduction in the GDP growth forecast to 6.1 per cent for the financial year 2019-20 (FY20) caught investors off guard.

Benchmark indices, S&P BSE Sensex and NSE's Nifty50, lost over 1 per cent, thus taking their losing streak to the fifth consective session. 

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 434 points or 1.14 per cent to settle at 37,673.31. Financial stocks led the decline with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank falling up to over 3 per cent. 

On the NSE, the frontline index Nifty50 ended at 11,175, down 139 points or 1.23 per cent. 

On a weekly basis, Sensex shed nearly 3 pe cent while Nifty50 lost 2.93 per cent. 

On the sectoral front, Nifty Bank index slid nearly 700 points or 2.40 per cent to settle at 27,731.85 levels, with 10 out of 12 constituents ending in the red. Nifty IT index was the only sectoral index on the NSE that ended in the green. The Nifty IT index ended at 15,340.30, up 62 points or 0.41 per cent. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index lost 131 points or 0.94 per cent to settle at 13,713.79 levels, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed at 12,809, down 102 points or 0.79 per cent. 

Market breadth remained in favour of declines as out of 2,865 traded on the BSE, 976 advanced and 1,636 declined while 253 scrips remained unchanged. 

As regards monetary policy, the Finance Ministry on Friday said the Reserve Bank's decision to lower benchmark lending rate will complement recent measures taken by the government to accelerate growth.

That's all we have for you in today's post-market podcast. For the latest news on business, markets, and more, log on to Business-Standard.com.