Nifty sheds 31 pts as RBI keeps rates unchanged; OMCs crack

Shares remained under selling pressure for a second straight session today with the NSE benchmark Nifty shedding 31 points after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept interest rates unchanged.
Barring financials, most rate-sensitive stocks succumbed to profit-taking. Blue-chip shares from select sectors, including those of software services exporters, led the decline.
The losses were, however, capped due to firm buying in financial, FMCG, healthcare, infra and metal stocks on the back of buoyant overseas sentiment.
As widely expected, the RBI maintained status quo by keeping policy rates unchanged for a fifth time in a row in its monetary policy review today, signalling that containing inflation remained its top priority in the midst of moderate growth and sluggish global economic recovery.

Indian economy grew at a better-than-expected rate of 5.3 per cent in the July-September quarter.
Though the market briefly traded in the green post RBI policy meet, it failed to maintain the momentum and ended in the red.

The 50-share bellwether index fluctuated between a high of 8,560.20 and a low of 8,504.65 before ending at 8,524.70, showing a fall of 31.20 points, or 0.36 per cent, over the last close.
Meanwhile, other Asian markets rebounded sharply with Shanghai and Japanese stocks closing at multi-year highs on hopes of more Chinese stimulus despite Moody's downgrading of Japan's credit rating late yesterday.

Oil marketing companies (OMCs) like BPCL, HPCL and IOC saw heavy unwinding due to a hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel for a second time in the last one month.
The key laggards included Infosys, TCS, HDFC, Tata Motors, M&M, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, BPCL, ONGC, HCL-Tech, Gail, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd, Hero, Dr Reddy's, Maruti and SBI.
Among the smart movers were L&T, ICICI Bank, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Bank, Hindalco, Zee, Lupin, Sun Pharma, IDFC, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel.
Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 17,045.45 crore from Rs 17,352.20 crore yesterday. A total of 8,037.61 lakh shares changed hands in 72,18,490 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 97,15,316 crore.