Stock Market: Sensex, Nifty Halt Six-Day Winning Streak Ahead Of RBI Policy Outcome

Stock update: The BSE Sensex slipped by 51 points to 58,298, while Tthe broader NSE Nifty closed at 17,382, down 6 points

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Thursday snapped their six-day winning run as investors booked profit ahead of the RBI monetary policy outcome on Friday.

After recouping some of the losses, the two domestic indices declined marginally before closing for the day.

The BSE Sensex slipped by 51 points (or 0.09 per cent) to 58,298. The Sensex gyrated 1,136 points during the day. The broader NSE Nifty closed at 17,382, down 6 points (0.04 per cent).

Among the 30-share Sensex constituents, NTPC, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Power Grid, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards. On the flip side, Sun Pharma, Nestle, Infosys, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major gainers.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

On NSE, Nifty Pharma was up 2.37 per cent, Nifty IT 1.2 per cent, and Nifty FMCG 0.5 per cent. PSU banks were the worst hit with the Nifty PSB index down 1.75 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex ended 214 points (0.37 per cent) higher at 58,350, while the Nifty went up by 42 points (0.25 per cent) to 17,388.

“Profit-taking finally came into play after 6-session gains, as rate-sensitive sectors like banking and realty faltered ahead of the RBI's policy meet outcome on Friday. Key indices pared most of their losses towards the end as strength in other Asian and European indices aided sentiment," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

"Taking positive momentum from the robust US economic data, the domestic market opened with gains, while worries over the US-China conflict kept investors on the defensive, leading to heavy volatility. Weak PMI and trade deficit data witnessed downside pressure on the Indian rupee and equity market," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended in the green. European stocks were trading mostly higher during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.28 per cent to $96.51 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital markets as they bought shares worth Rs 765.17 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.