Stock Market: Sensex Rises 82 Points, Nifty Trades At 16,450 After RBI Hikes Repo Rate

Stock update: On the BSE, SBI was the top gainer, up 2.13 per cent, followed by Bajaj twins, Tata Steel, Titan, Maruti, L&T, HDFC twins, and others

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday, which started trade in the red, turned positive after the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the monetary policy that retained India’s growth forecast at 7.2 per cent.

The RBI has hiked the key repo rate by 50 bps to tame surging inflation. This was the second raise in a row this year, which came in-line with the Street’s expectations. With this, the repo rate now stands at 4.9 per cent, up from 4.4 per cent.

At 1 pm, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 82 points to 55,189, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 16,450, up 34 points.

On the BSE, SBI was the top gainer, up 2.13 per cent, followed by Bajaj twins, Tata Steel, Titan, Maruti, L&T, HDFC twins, and others.

On the flipside, RIL was the prime loser, down 1.21 per cent, followed by Airtel, ITC, HUL, Asian Paint, and others.

In the broader markets, midcap and smallcap shares were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.21 per cent and smallcap edged 0.03 per cent higher.

On NSE, eight of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.85 per cent and 0.62 per cent.

The overall market breadth was slightly strong as 1,251 shares were advancing, while 1,203 were declining on the BSE.

"RBI's projections of GDP growth rate of 7.2 per cent and inflation of 6.7 per cent for FY23 reflect a realistic monetary policy. The higher inflation projection indicates that the central bank recognises the seriousness of inflation and the 50 bps repo rate hike is a message that they are determined to anchor inflation expectations. The Governor's remark that the economy remains resilient and recovery has gathered momentum, is bullish from the market perspective," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, told the PTI.

In its previous trading on Tuesday, Sensex had plunged 568 points (1.02 per cent) to close at 55,107, while Nifty had moved 153 points (0.92 per cent) down to settle at 16,416.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong were trading in the green, while Shanghai quoted lower.

Stock markets in the US had ended with gains on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.34 per cent to $120.97 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 2,293.98 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.