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Markets edged lower in afternoon trades this Friday on back of profit-booking in rate sensitive sectors such as banks, real-estate after the central bank’s policy action.
The Reserve Bank of India in its monetary policy review reduced repo rates by much-anticipated 25 basis points but hinted towards a little room for future policy easing.
Reserve Bank of India is becoming over-cautious in reading the potential risks to the economy and staying stubborn with the hawkish monetary policy to the detriment to the industrial growth, industry body Assocham has said.
At 2:25PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex fell 80 points at 19,657.77while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty declined 31 points to close at 5,968.
Global risk appetite firm after a report that may show U.S. employers hired more workers last month coupled with an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank added to hopes that more stimulus from yet another major central bank will help shore up the global economic recovery.
In US, payrolls increased by 140,000 workers following a gain of 88,000 in March, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 90 economists.
Meanwhile, ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday said the ECB stood ready to ease further if needed, dealing a blow to the euro currency as investors looked elsewhere for better returns
Asian markets traded mixed with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% to 22,689.83, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.2% to 2,205, Singapore’s Straits Times declined 0.3% to 3,373. Japanese markets are shut today and will reopen on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, European markets traded higher. France’s CAC gained 0.1% to 3,863, Germany’s DAX rose 0.1% to 7,972 and UK’s FTSE was up 0.1% to 6,466.
Back home, the key sectoral indices such as metals, capital goods, technology and IT gained while banks, real-estate, automobiles declined on the BSE.
The gainers on the Sensex included, Jindal Steel gaining 4%, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel were up over 2%, Sun Pharma rose 1.4% Infosys added 1.3% on the BSE.
The laggards included counters such as Tata Motors falling 3%, SBI and ICICI Bank declined 2.4% respectively, GAIL dropped 2.5%, Bajaj Auto shed nearly 2.4% on the BSE.
The key notable movers included, Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) has soared 8% to Rs 1,000 in noon deals in otherwise weak market on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The stock opened at Rs 935 and hit a low of Rs 930 in morning deals. A combined 545,638 shares have changed hands on the counter till 1443 hours against an average less than 200,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on NSE and BSE.
Reliance Communications (RCom) has surged 6% to Rs 112, extending its one-month long rally on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The broader markets declined with mid-caps and small-caps falling nearly 0.3% on the BSE.
The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,305 stocks traded, 1,259 stocks declined compared to 913 advances on the BSE.
