Rate sensitive stks trade weak; Nifty Auto, PSU Bank, Realty index down 2%

Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, SBI, Bank of Baroda and DLF were down in the range of 3% to 6% on the NSE.

Shares of rate sensitive sectors like bank, automobiles and realty stocks were trading weak despite the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank on Friday kept the repo rate unchanged at to 6.50% in its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19.

At 02:49 pm, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty indices were down in the range of 1.6% to 2.5%, as compared to 1.5% decline in the Nifty 50 index. Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank index were trading flat on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra & Mahindra from the automobiles, State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and Central Bank of India from PSU bank and DLF, Sunteck Realty and Unitech from realty were down between 3% and 6%.

IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank and Punjab National Bank were however trading higher in the range of 1% to 2% on the NSE.

Repurchase rate, or repo, is the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds. Consequently, the reverse repo -- the rate at which the Reserve Bank borrows money from commercial banks within the country -- stood unchanged at 6.25%. The MPC changed the stance to calibrated tightening.

The central bank said the policy stance has changed to "calibrated tightening" from neutral. Headline inflation was estimated to accelerate to 4.5% by March 2019 quarter with upside risks, it said. RBI retained the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate at 7.4% for FY19. GDP growth for Q1 FY20 is now projected marginally lower at 7.4% as against 7.5% in the August resolution, mainly due to the strong base effect, RBI said.

"The market correction is largely driven by macro concerns around rising crude prices and depreciating currency and consequent deleterious impact for twin deficits. Rising bond yields and concerns around liquidity tightening is also keeping the markets anxious,” Gautam Duggad, Head of Research- Institutional Equities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.

Valuations, while off from the recent highs, are still rich, especially for mid-caps. We continue to prefer large-caps over midcaps. Correction, nonetheless, offers a good opportunity to accumulate high quality stocks with earnings visibility from a three year perspective, added Gautam Duggad.