Indian shares rise after RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.5% in MPC meet

By Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares rose on Thursday, with the benchmarks closing in on all-time highs, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained key policy rates, as widely expected.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 index was up 0.23% at 18,770.20 as of 10:44 a.m. IST, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.23% to 63,285.99. Both the indexes were up 0.12% ahead of the RBI rate decision.

The RBI's monetary policy committee (MPC) left the repo rate at 6.50% for a second straight meeting.

"The full effect of the policy rate hikes will be visible in the coming months," said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, adding that domestic demand situations remained conducive for growth.

"The policy was on the expected lines of the market while remaining growth supportive," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president, research, at SMC Global Securities.

Both the Nifty 50 and Sensex were less than 1% below the record highs.

The Indian rupee remained mostly unchanged after the policy decision, while the benchmark 10-year bond yield rose to 7.01%.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sohini Goswami)