The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday erased their early gains and turned flat amid volatility following the RBI's monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the key repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent. At 11.05 am, the BSE Sensex plunged 708 points to 71,443. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 21,728, down 202 points.
On the30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, SBI, HCLTech, TCS, and Sun Pharma were the only gainers. On the down side, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Nestle, ITC, Maruti, UltraCemco emerged prime losers. Among specific stocks, Paytm snapped its two-day gains and dropped 5 per cent after reports said CDSL is inspecting Paytm Money's KYC process norms.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced up to 0.8 per cent.
On the sectoral front, Nifty PSB index was the lead gainer, rising over 1 per cent while Realty and FMCG indices were trading in the red.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 72,152, down 34 points, while the NSE Nifty50 ended at 21,931, up 1 point.
"The mother market US is setting new records and this provides the support to facilitate new records in India, too. The bulls are again on the front foot and will use any positive news to push the market forward. The event which will be closely watched today would be what RBI says," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Markets in Asia, like Seoul, Tokyo, and Shanghai were trading in the gren zone, however, Hong Kong traded lower. The US markets ended with gains on Wednesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.42 per cent to $79.54 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,691.02 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee was trading on a flat note after the RBI MPC annoucement on Thursday.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 82.94 against the dollar and was trading at 82.96 against the greenback, unchanged from its previous close. On Wednesday, the local currency gained 9 paise to close at 82.96 against the dollar.