RBI surprise helps key equity indices extend gains for fifth day

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 6 : Indian equity key indices extended gains for the fifth session in a row while the Reserve Bank of India makes a surprise decision of keeping the repo rate unchanged.
BSE Sensex went up 143 points to settle at 59,832.97 while NSE Nifty surged 42 points to end at 17,599.15 on Thursday.
Among the sectoral indices, realty rose almost 3 per cent. Energy, Pharma, Auto and Metal were among the gainers with less than a per cent jump. IT struggled as it shed 0.7 per cent. FMCG and Consumer Durable also ended in the red.
Adani Enterprises' shares jumped 3.22 per cent on Thursday. State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors and Sun Pharma were among the top gaining stocks today.
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday decided to keep the key benchmark interest rate - the repo rate - unchanged at 6.5 per cent with readiness to act should the situation so warrant. The Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank decided to take a pause after a rate hike seen in the previous six consecutive policies.
Raising interest rates is a monetary policy instrument that typically helps suppress demand in the economy, thereby helping the inflation rate decline.
The European markets advanced while Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday. US stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as investors look towards OPEC+ production cuts and inflation impact.
On RBI's decision to pause the rate hike, Puneet Pal, Head-Fixed Income, PGIM India Mutual Fund, said, "In our view, RBI seems to have taken a nuanced view of the evolving scenario as the developed economies face increasing growth headwinds with the inverted yield curves signalling an imminent growth downturn and steep rate cuts later in the year after the banking crisis in US and Europe."
He added, "RBI has kept the window open for further rate action by refusing to acknowledge the end of the rate hiking cycle as risks remain on food inflation due to expected EL NINO and continued sticky core inflation though the bar for another rate hike is quite high given that the developed market central banks will likely pause on monetary tightening over the next one quarter. Thus, we expect a long pause from RBI.
KEC International shares rallied 3.23 per cent on Thursday after the company announced that it has secured new orders of Rs 1,213 crore across its various businesses. Tata Steel surged 0.43 per cent. The steel major's India business reported 5.1 per cent rise in crude steel production to 5.15 million tonnes in Q4 FY23 as compared with 4.90 million tonnes posted in Q4 FY22.