Sensex hits all-time high; Nifty scales 21k post RBI policy decision

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Nifty scaled the psychological milestone of 21,000 in afternoon trade on Friday, and the Sensex touched its all-time intraday high of 69,888.33 after the central bank's decision to keep policy rates unchanged in line with market expectations.

The 50-share benchmark index opened on a bullish note, after taking a breather on Thursday, and rose to 21,006.10.

As many as 25 stocks were trading in the green, and 24 stocks defied the broader market and were trading in the negative territory.

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap Select index was trading 0.1 per cent higher at 9,975.60 points, Nifty Bank was trading up 0.48 per cent, and Nifty Financial Services advanced 21,133.30 points.

The major gainers in the benchmark Nifty index include LTIMindtree (3.17 per cent), followed by JSW steel (2.97 per cent), HCL Tech (2.96 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.41 per cent) and L&T (1.32 per cent).

Among the laggards, Adani Ports declined the most and was down 1.55 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance (down 1.37 per cent), Adani Enterprises (down 1.23 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.18 per cent).

Among the Sensex scrips, 19 stocks advanced, and 11 stocks declined.

Market analysts said the equity market welcomed the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision.

"Monetary policy was on expected lines. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept its stance the same as withdrawal from accommodation to ensure taming inflation under target. However, at the same time, the RBI highlighted the risk of over-tightening in the backdrop of global slowdown," said Gaurav Dua, Head – Capital Market Strategy, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

This is despite the increase in GDP forecast to 7 per cent for FY24 compared to 6.5 per cent earlier.

"Hence, it is more of a balanced view or neutral stance as compared to the inflation-focused commentary earlier. We remain positive on equity markets in the near-to-medium term with real estate, banks, consumer and engineering/capital goods as preferred sectors," Dua said.

Announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent.

He said the MPC will remain "actively disinflationary".

According to him, the growth projection has been raised to 7 per cent for the current financial year from 6.5 per cent earlier.

The central bank projected the Consumer Price-based Inflation (CPI) based retail inflation at 5.4 per cent for the current fiscal.