Sensex ends 460 pts higher on RBI’s dovish stance, Nifty reclaims 17,600; Tata Steel, Infy, HDFC twins lead

The benchmark indices ended higher for the third straight session on Thursday as traders cheered the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to keep the key rates unchanged. The RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) maintained the status quo on policy rates for the tenth time in a row with an ‘accommodative’ stance to help revive the economy.

The BSE Sensex closed 460 points, or 0.79%, higher at 58,926, and the NSE Nifty ended 142 points, or 0.81%, higher at 17,606.

In a similar trend, the broader markets also closed higher with marginal gains. The S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index rose 0.3% and 0.04%, respectively.

The overall market breadth on the BSE was negative, with 1,866 shares declining out of total 3,694 traded stocks. Out of the total shares, 1,698 shares advanced and 130 were unchanged.

The equity benchmarks witnessed broad-based buying today as a dovish policy stance by the central bank triggered buying momentum in the market. The policymakers kept the repo rate unchanged at 4%, while the reverse repo rate also remained unchanged at 3.35%. The central bank also retained the CPI inflation forecast at 5.3% for the current fiscal. For the ongoing January-March quarter of FY22, the CPI inflation has been pegged at 5.7% due to adverse base effect.

Top gainers and losers

The top gainer on the BSE Sensex pack was Tata Steel, the country’s largest steelmaker, which settled with a 2.11% gain. Some of the other top performers include Infosys, HDFC Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation and Kotak Mahindra Bank, which rose up to 1.8%.

On the losing side, auto giant Maruti Suzuki India topped the losers’ chart by falling 1.64% on the BSE. The other top laggards include Nestle India, UltraTech Cement and Reliance Industries, which dropped up to 0.4%.

All sectors end in green, except capital goods

On the sectoral front, all sectoral indices, barring capital goods, closed in positive terrain, led by power and metal indices.

The BSE power index emerged as the biggest gainer by rising 1.4%, led by Adani Power, JSW Energy, Adani Transmission, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Tata Power Company.

The power sector was followed by the metal space, which ended 1.34% higher. The top performers in the metal index include Jindal Steel & Power, NMDC, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco Industries.

Global equities surge ahead of U.S. inflation data

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe traded mostly higher on Thursday, following strong cues from Wall Street which finished higher overnight. Traders remained cautious ahead of the U.S. inflation data slated to be released later tonight. The highly-anticipated inflation data will bring more clarity on the timeline of interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve to tame inflation.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.4% higher, while South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.11%. Australia’s ASX 200 index added 0.28%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong climbed 0.38%, and the Straits Times Index in Singapore rose 0.23%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component dropped 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite closed 0.17% higher.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s SET Composite ended flat with negative bias, and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite fell 0.16%.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed 1% lower, while the Straits Times Index in Singapore dropped 0.4%, reversing opening gains.

In European market, Germany’s DAX climbed 0.11% in early deals, while France’s CAC index dropped 0.1%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index edged higher in early trade, while Spain’s IBEX index gained 0.3%.

In the overnight trade, volatility continued at Wall Street following the release of strong GDP data which further fuelled fear about the sooner-than-expected rise in interest rates. Paring early gains, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 0.5%, the blue-chip Dow Jones index slipped 0.02%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite settled 1.4% lower.