The Indian equity benchmarks gave thumbs up to Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) decision to pause repo rate at 6.5 per cent at the first MPC meeting of the current financial year. The Sensex rose as much as 430 points from the day's lowest level and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 17,600.
As of 1:32 pm, the Sensex was up 107 points at 59,791 and Nifty 50 index rose 31 points to 17,587.
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Thursday (April 6) kept its key lending rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent, as per the announcement by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. The concluded three-day long RBI monetary policy meeting was a part of the bi-monthly policy review that the central bank undertakes. At the beginning of the address, the RBI Governor said, "The year 2023 began on a promising note..... Inflation globally has moderated but its dessent to the target is proving to be long."
"The RBI astonished the market by pausing policy rates; nonetheless, there was some talk about this unexpected statement, which keeps it ahead of other major central banks across the world. When symptoms of growing inflation first appeared, the RBI was one of the few central banks to begin raising interest rates. As a result, this RBI approach can be interpreted as an indication that global interest rates are about to peak. The market is in a good mood, and this policy provides us with further cause to rejoice. However, given that we have witnessed a good recovery from recent lows and that we have a long weekend and a weekly expiry, some profit-taking or consolidation cannot be ruled out. The market's overall tone has changed to positive in the near term. If you have cash then sell, and buy in the future," said Santosh Meena of Swastika Investmart.
"Technically, the crucial resistance levels for Nifty and Banknifty are 17600 and 41250, respectively. If they are successful in crossing over these levels, we can anticipate a move in the direction of the 17770 and 41650 levels; otherwise, some profit-taking is anticipated. On the downside side, immediate support levels are at 17440 and 40650. The texture is the buy-on dip," he added.
Meanwhile, rate sensitive auto and real estate shares were witnessing buying interest after RBI paused the rate hike cycle. The Nifty Realty index rose nearly 3 per cent and Nifty Auto index advanced nearly 1 per cent. Nifty Financial Services, Metal, PSU Bank, Healthcare and Oil& Gas shares were also witnessing buying interest.
On the other hand, FMCG, IT and Private Bank shares were witnessing selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap stocks were witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.5 and 0.6 per cent respectively.
Adani Enterprises was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4 per cent to Rs 1,766. Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life, Sun Pharma, Bharat Petroleum and Adani Ports also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Nestle India, Wipro and Titan were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 2,221 shares were advancing while 1,195 were declining on the BSE.
