Markets extend gains as RBI keeps repo rate unchanged; Sensex tops 450 pts, Nifty 50 reclaims 17,750

8 Apr 2022 , 01:59 PM

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has once again maintained a ‘Status Quo’ in policy repo rate and stance in the first bi-monthly monetary policy of fiscal FY23. Investors cheered RBI’s policy outcome and tapped equity markets. Right after when MPC presented the policy, Sensex topped more than 450 points with an intraday high of 59,574.59. Meanwhile, Nifty 50 reclaimed over 17,700-level by touching an intraday high of 17,797.40 and surging over 150 points.

Both benchmarks extended their gaining spree.

At around 2:00 PM, Sensex was performing at 59,496.41 higher by 461.46 points or 0.78%. Nifty 50 was performing at 17,787.40 up by 147.85 points or 0.84%.

Bank Nifty also picked up the pace and was trading at 37,846.05 higher by 288.70 points or 0.77%. Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank, AU Bank, IndusInd Bank were top gainers soaring by 1-3%.

On Nifty 50, stocks that advanced most were – Grasim, JSW Steel soaring more than 4% each. SBI Life advanced 3% while Adani Ports and ITC surged over 2.5%.

On the contrary, stocks that slipped most on Nifty 50 were – Cipla, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, NTPC, Sun Pharma tumbling between 0.5-2.5%.

RBI has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4%, while maintaining its accommodative stance.

However, RBI’s reverse repo rate hiked by 40 bps to 3.75%. MSF and Bank rate unchanged at 4.25% each.

In the first monetary policy of this fiscal, the MPC cut the growth projection to 7.2 percent for FY23 from 7.8 percent, which is reflective of the panel’s assessment of the Russia-Ukraine war impact on global growth and its possible spill-over to the Indian economy.