Bouncing back from early fall, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 143.66 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 59,832.97. During the day, it advanced 260.75 points or 0.43 per cent to 59,950.06. The broader NSE Nifty gained 42.10 points or 0.24 per cent to finish at 17,599.15 after falling in initial trade. After raising interest rate by a cumulative 250 basis points in 11 months, the RBI unexpectedly kept benchmark rate unchanged as global banking woes added uncertainty to the economic outlook. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das however pledged to hike interest rate again if needed, saying the decision to pause was “for this meeting only”.
Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance emerged as the biggest gainer by climbing 2.95 per cent. Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel were the other major winners.
“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,” Meena added.
Among sectoral indices, realty jumped 2.90 per cent, auto climbed 0.94 per cent, industrials (0.89 per cent), utilities (0.80 per cent), oil & gas (0.77 per cent), healthcare (0.76 per cent) and power (0.73 per cent).
Sensex surged 2,219 points or 3.73 per cent while Nifty jumped 647 points or 4.21 per cent in the five-day rally, bolstered by a recovery in financial, banking and auto shares.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Japan and Shanghai ended lower, while Hong Kong settled in the green. European equity markets were trading in positive territory during the afternoon trade. The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought equities worth Rs 806.82 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.