Market near day's low; consumer durables shares witness bargain buying

The domestic equity benchmarks traded near intraday low in mid-afternoon trade, following the Monetary Policy Committee's unanimous decision to reduce the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%. This marked the first rate change in two years, driven by easing inflation and slowing economic growth. The committee highlighted its neutral stance, focusing on aligning inflation with targets while supporting economic growth. The Nifty dropped below the 23,500 level.

Consumer durables shares witnessed buying demand after declining for two consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, shed 556.63 points or 0.71% to 77,501.53. The Nifty 50 index lost 144.80 points or 0.61% to 23,458.55.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.39% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.06%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,275 shares rose and 2,569 shares fell. A total of 160 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Friday cut the repo ratethe rate at which the RBI lends to other banksby 25 basis points to 6.25% after keeping it unchanged for two years.

This is the first rate cut initiated by the RBI in five years, the last one being in May 2020. RBI, however, continues with the neutral monetary policy stance and remains unambiguously focused on a durable alignment of inflation with the target while supporting growth.

The decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2% while supporting growth, the central bank noted. This was the first RBI policy under the new Governor Sanjay Malhotra and also the first RBI MPC meeting after the Union Budget 2025-2026 was presented on February 1.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty consumer durables index added 1.13% to 38,533.45. The index fell 2.84% in two consecutive trading sessions.

Dixon Technologies (India) (up 3.32%), Blue Star (up 2.65%), Voltas (up 2.02%), Century Plyboards (India) (up 1.54%) and Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (up 0.77%), Titan Company (up 0.62%) and Whirlpool of India (up 0.16%) declined.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 2.33% to 6.812 as compared with previous close 6.664.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 87.3650, compared with its close of 87.5900 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for the 5 April 2025 settlement rose 0.14% to Rs 84,559.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.08% to 107.61.

The United States 10-year bond yield shed 0.02% to 4.437.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2025 settlement rose 59 cents or 0.79% to $74.88 a barrel.

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