Stock Market: Sensex Falls 200 Points, Nifty Around 19580 Ahead Of RBI MPC Outcome

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Asian Paints, HCL, TechM, TCS, Tata Motors, ITC emerged early losers. UltraCemco, NTPC, PowerGrid, M&M, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel emerged gainers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty on Thursday were trading in the red in the morning session, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) monetary policy outcome scheduled today. At 9.30 am, the BSE Sensex was down 192 points to 65,904. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trdaing at 19,582, down 51 points. It is expected that the central bank;s rate setting committee is widely expected to take a hawkish stance as flaring vegetable prices upend the inflation math of the economy. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Asian Paints, HCL, TechM, TCS, Tata Motors, ITC emerged early losers. On the downside, UltraCemco, NTPC, PowerGrid, M&M, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel emerged gainers. Among speciifc stocks, shares of Hero MotoCorp declined over half a per cent amid reports that the tax authorities are investigating Hero MotoCorp's relationship with a vendor suspected of reporting about Rs 90 crore in false expenditure.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed the benchmark indices as they climbed 0.22 per cent and 0.34 pe cent, respectively. 

Sectorwise, the Nifty IT index was down 0.23 per cent, followed by the Nifty FMCG index (down 0.2 per cent), while the Nifty Media gained 1 per cent and the Nifty Metal added 0.2 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex settled 149 points up to 65,996, while the NSE Nifty50 closed above 62 points to 19,633.

"The market today will be focussed on the MPC's decision on rates, stance and communication on tone. The near market consensus is that the rates and stance will remain unchanged and the tone will be hawkish in view of the high inflation. Any deviation from these expectations can move the markets," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in the green, while Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong quoted lower. The US markets ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Wednesday after continuous offloading of equities for the past several days. They bought equities worth Rs 644.11 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.16 per cent to $87.41 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 5 paise to 82.80 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday ahead of the MPC decision. However, weak domestic equities and elevated crude prices weighed on the local unit, said analysts. Investors were trading cautiously ahead of the Reserve Bank's rate-setting panel MPC's monetary policy decision. The MPC meeting started its three-day review meeting on Tuesday.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened stronger at 82.81 against the dollar and touched 82.80, registering a gain of 5 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee appreciated 6 paise to settle at 82.85 against the dollar.