The national Stock Exchange benchmark – Nifty 50 closed at record high while 30-share Sensex ended a few points shy of an all-time high on Friday after the Reserve Bank kept the key benchmark rates unchanged for the eighth consecutive time and promised to maintain the status-quo on rates “as long as necessary to revive growth.” The Sensex rose as much as 534 points and the Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 17,941.85 led by gains in Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro and Tech Mahindra.The Sensex advanced 381 points to close at 60,059 and Nifty 50 index climbed 105 points to close at record high of 17,895.The central bank left the key lending rate or the repo rate steady at 4 per cent, while the reverse repo rate or the borrowing rate also stayed unchanged at 3.35 per cent.”There should not be any concern about the adequacy of liquidity in the banking system to support recovery or financial markets,” Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his policy address.”Our entire approach is of gradualism, we don’t want suddenness or surprises,” he said, adding there was no need for conducting more G-SAP or government securities acquisition programme auctions at this point.”RBI policy is a “Mai Hoon Naa” policy aimed to achieve multiple objectives. Keep growth supported, inflationary expectations under check, financial markets stable, liquidity adequate and appropriate, yield curve in shape and ensure smooth passage of government’s borrowing programme. They have reassured the markets that monetarily policy normalization will be gradual and calibrated,” said Nilesh Shah, Group President & MD, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company.Information technology shares were in very high demand on Friday ahead of earnings announcement from the country’s largest IT company – Tata Consultancy Services. The Nifty IT index was top sectoral gainer, the index ended with a gain of nearly 2 per cent.Nifty PSU Bank, Media, Oil & Gas, Auto and Metal indices also rose between 0.3-1.8 per cent.On the other hand, financial services, FMCG, pharma, realty and healthcare shares witnessed selling pressure.Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.4 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.3 per cent.Reliance Industries was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3.76 per cent to close at record high of Rs 2,669. Wipro, Infosys, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, HCL Technologies, TCS, UPL, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro also rose between 1-3 per cent.On the flipside, Coal India, SBI Life, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Shree Cements, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Tata Consumer Products, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Hindalco were among the losers.The overall market breadth was positive as 1,852 shares ended higher while 1,452 closed lower on the BSE.
Source link
Strange India 