The Indian equity benchmarks gained for third session in a row on Thursday as investor sentiment got a boost after the Reserve Bank of India held interest rates at record low and maintained its accommodative stance to foster economic growth for as long as possible. The Sensex rose as much as 594 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 17,639.45. Rally in today's session was led by buying interest in index heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India and Tata Steel.
The Sensex surged 460 points to close at 58,926 and Nifty 50 index climbed 142 points to close at 17,606.
This is the tenth time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has maintained the status quo. RBI had last revised its policy repo rate or the short-term lending rate on May 22, 2020 in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting the interest rate to a historic low.
Buying was visible across sectors as thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Media index's 1.6 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Information Technology, Private Bank and Realty indices also rose between 1-1.2 per cent.
On the other hand, select PSU bank and auto shares faced selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.5 per cent.
Among the individual shares, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, parent of fashion retailer Nykaa, dropped 7.45 per cent to close at Rs 1,711 after its net profit declined over 50 per cent to Rs 29 crore in December quarter from Rs 69 crore in the same quarter last year.
Newly-listed Adani Wilmar was locked in 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 381.80. The stock has rallied a whopping 66 per cent from its IPO price since its listing on Tuesday.
ONGC was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4 per cent to close at Rs 170. Tata Steel, Infosys, SBI Life, HDFC Bank, Grasim Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC and JSW Steel also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, Maruti Suzuki, Indian Oil, Shree Cements, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Coal India, UPL, Bharat Petroleum and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the losers.
