Sensex & Nifty Open In Red As Anxious Markets Look To RBI For Repo Rate Cuts

As the MPC is slated to announce its decision on the repo rate in the country at 10:00 IST, the Indian markets opened in red on Thursday, with Sensex at 79,246.14, down by 221.87 points, and Nifty at 24,232.10, down by 65.40 points.

Nifty Bank in the morning session was trading low at 50,112.65, also up by 6.35 points.

This development comes to pass amid speculation that the central bank of the country, like the Federal Reserve in the United States, will not reduce or cut rates and instead retain the existing 6.50 per cent repo rate.

Gainers and Losers

From the Sensex pack, ITC, Titan and Tata Motors were among the major gainers in the morning session, whereas Infosys, JSW Steel and L&T were among the laggards.

From the Nifty tranche, Hindalco, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank were among the gainers, while L&T, LTIMindtree and Wipro were among the losers.

The Indian rupee opened at 83.95 against the dollar.

Markets on Wednesday

The stock markets ended Wednesday on a higher note for both the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed the day at 79,468.01, 1.11 per cent or 874.94 points higher. Similarly, the NSE Nifty ended in green, rising by 241.09 points or 1.01 per cent, closing at 24,509.25.

Gainers and Losers

Amongst the gainers, Tata Motors, Power Grid and SBI made significant gains.

Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel and Kotak Bank were amongst the loser with decline of under 1 per cent.

Energy and International Markets

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) increased by 0.49 per cent to USD 75.60 a barrel at 09:20 IST. Brent crude prices also increased by 0.14 per cent to USD 78.60 a barrel at 09:20 IST.

On Wednesday, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw a collective slump in their numbers. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average also saw a drop in its value.

The S&P 500 closed at 5,199.50, losing 0.77 per cent or 40.53 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 38,763.45, losing 0.60 per cent or 234.21 points.

Additionally, the Nasdaq Composite saw a decline of 1.05 per cent to reach 16,195.81.

The Asian indices started in Green, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.17 per cent to reach 35,148.10 at the opening of the day's trade. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also traded in green and gained 0.64 per cent rising to 16,985.40 points. South Korea’s KOSPI observed a drop, as it increased by 0.37 per cent to reach 2,773.78.