By IANS
New Delhi : Indian equities opened lower Wednesday, a day after the quarterly review of the monetary and credit policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as sentiments were dampened by the status quo on interest rates.
After losing 60.84 points or 0.34 percent Tuesday, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 18,120.22 points, compared with the previous day’s close at 18,091.94 points.
The index then dropped to 17,964.03 points, and was ruling at 18,019.39 points, some 30 minutes into trading, with a loss of 72.55 points, or 0.40 percent. As many as 11 out of the 13 sector-specific indices were in the red.
Among the ‘A’ group shares, the advances and declines were evenly matched at a ratio of 96:104, while among the Sensex shares, 23 were trading in the red and only seven managed to buck the trend.
State Bank of India, DLF, Grasim and Bharat Heavy Electricals led the gainers, while the losers were led by Bajaj Auto, followed by Mahindra and Mahindra, Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Hindustan Aluminium.
In Tuesday’s policy review, the central bank left unchanged its benchmark bank rate, the reverse repo rate, the repo rate and cash reserve ratio (CRR) in a bid to manage liquidity and keep inflationary expectations under check.
While the bank rate is currently pegged at 6 percent, the reverse repo rate and the repo rate have been notified at 6 percent and 7.75 percent, respectively. The cash reserve ratio stands at 7.5 percent.
Other Asian markets also turned volatile Wednesday, after expecting another rate cut by the US Federal Reserve after it surprised the financial markets last week by announcing a 75 basis point reduction in interest rates.