Sensex, Nifty drop in early deals in line with Asian market

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty edged lower in opening deals on Friday, tracking subdued Asian market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading lower by 56.87 points or 0.14 per cent at 41,249.16, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 13.60 points or 0.11 per cent to 12,124.35 in early morning trade.

On Thursday, the Sensex had settled 163.37 points, or 0.40 per cent, higher at 41,306.03 and the Nifty had closed up 48.80 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 12,137.95 after the RBI left the policy rates unchanged but maintained its accommodative stance to boost growth.

Both equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty had logged their fourth straight gains on Thursday.

Global crude benchmark Brent advanced 0.33 per cent to USD 55.30 per barrel.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee dropped 9 paise to 71.27 per US dollar in morning deals.

Exchange data showed foreign investors pulled out Rs 560.36 crore on a net basis from the Indian equity market on Thursday.

On the global financial market front, Asia was trading lower, while US stocks consolidated gains for a fourth consecutive day to climb new record highs, as sentiment kept improving on China's pledge of tariff cuts on American goods.

In the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2019-20, the kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent while retaining its accommodative stance.

The central bank also kept the GDP growth estimate unchanged for the current fiscal at 5 per cent but projected a pick up to 6 per cent in the next financial year.