Mumbai, Oct 8 (PTI) The
Sensex soared past the 60,000-level while the Nifty finished at an all-time high on Friday after the
Reserve Bank kept the key interest rates unchanged but maintained its accommodative stance to bolster economic recovery. Market heavyweight
Reliance Industries led the gains, while IT stocks too saw heavy buying ahead of TCS’ results.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 381.23 points or 0.64 per cent to close at 60,059.06, just shy of its lifetime high.
The NSE Nifty rose 104.85 points or 0.59 per cent to its fresh closing peak of 17,895.20.
Reliance Industries was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.84 per cent, followed by Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, TCS, Tata Steel and L&T.
In contrast, HUL, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy’s and Titan were among the laggards, shedding up to 1.16 per cent.
Rate-sensitive banking and realty indices ended in the red, but auto closed with gains.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex rallied 1,293.48 points or 2.20 per cent, and the Nifty soared 363.15 points or 2.07 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expectedly kept interest rates unchanged at a record low but signalled the start of tapering pandemic-era stimulus measures on economic recovery taking root.
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept the key lending rate or the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent while the reverse repo rate or the borrowing rate was maintained at 3.35 per cent.
It voted 5-1 to retain the accommodative stance, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said.
The GSAP programme to purchase government securities from the market has been stopped for now to ensure that there is no further infusion of liquidity, he said, but stressed that the step is not a reversal of its accommodative policy stance and RBI will be ready to resume bond purchases if needed.
“With the RBI continuing with its accommodative policy, indices remained firmly bullish through the day led by the IT index as the street awaits TCS earnings and guidance,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.
Reliance led from the front with the broader markets seeing action across pockets, he added.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, “Domestic indices traded higher with optimism underpinned by dovish RBI policy and mixed global cues due to US jobs data awaited later in the day. RBI kept rates unchanged and maintained the status quo on accommodative stance.”
“FY22 GDP growth was maintained at 9.5 per cent while trimming inflation worries by lowering CPI forecast from 5.7 per cent to 5.3 per cent, provided the push to the market. On the sectoral front, the IT sector was in focus ahead of the result releases of sectoral majors while realty and FMCG succumbed to profit booking,” he added.
Sectorally, BSE energy, IT, teck, industrials, oil and gas, auto and basic materials indices spurted up to 2.69 per cent, while realty, power, FMCG and utilities closed lower.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices climbed up to 0.83 per cent.
Asian stocks mustered gains, led by Chinese markets which returned from a week-long holiday. Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo ended with gains, while Seoul was in the red.
Stock exchanges in Europe were largely trading on a negative note in the afternoon session.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.83 per cent to USD 82.63 per barrel.
The rupee tumbled 20 paise to close at 74.99 against the US dollar on Friday, as rising crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,764.25 crore, as per exchange data. PTI ANS ABM ABM