Stock Market Today: Sensex, Nifty Log Second Week Of Gains On RBI's Surprise Rate Pause

Overseas investors in Indian equities remained net buyers for the sixth day in a row on Thursday.

Foreign portfolio investors mopped up stocks worth Rs 475.81 crore, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.

Domestic institutional investors were net sellers for the third straight day and offloaded stocks worth Rs 997.08 crore, the NSE data showed.

Foreign institutions invested in Indian equities have remained net sellers so far in 2023, offloading equities worth around Rs 48,953.07 crore.

• The yield on the 10-year bond closed 7 bps lower at 7.20% on Thursday after RBI paused the policy rate hikes.

• It fell as much as 7.18% intraday, the most in four months since Dec. 2, 2022.

• It closed at 7.27% on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg

• The local currency strengthened about 10 paise to close at 81.90 against the greenback on Thursday.

• It strengthened the most in eight weeks since Feb. 3, 2023, when it closed at 81.84.

• It closed at 82 on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg

Indian equity benchmarks ended Thursay higher as the Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the benchmark repo rate unchanged. On a weekly basis, the headline indices closed higher for the second week in a row.

As most Asian markets declined, Indian shares provided a relative bright spot in trading, with the NSE Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex advancing after the central bank paused its rate hikes. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das added that the committee was ready to act should the situation so warrant.

Globally, treasury yields headed for one of the longest streak of declines since 2020 and the U.S. equity-index futures were little changed as bets the world economy is set for a sharper slowdown outweighed concerns over elevated inflation and monetary tightening.

Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes slipped less than 0.2% each, while a gauge of global stocks headed for a weekly loss. European stocks rose, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 ending a three-day slide, as traders assessed trends in corporate earnings.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index closed up 144 points or 0.24% at 59,832.97 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index was higher by 42 points or 0.24% at 17,599.15.

IndusInd Bank Ltd., Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., and Bajaj Finance Ltd. were positively adding to the change.

Whereas, HCL Technologies Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd., and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd. were negatively contributing to the change in the Nifty 50 Index.

All the Adani Group company rose in trade, with Adani Transmission Ltd., Adani Green Energy Ltd., NDTV Ltd., Adani Total Gas Ltd. and Adani Enterprises Ltd. rising the most.

The broader market indices ended higher in trade; S&P BSE MidCap Index was up by 0.71%, whereas S&P BSE SmallCap Index was higher by 0.70%.

Fourteen out of the 20 sectors compiled by BSE advanced, while S&P BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods, S&P BSE Information Technology, S&P BSE Telecommunication, S&P BSE Consumer Durables, S&P BSE Metal and S&P BSE Teck declined in trade.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. About 2,389 stocks rose 1,137 declined, and 110 remained unchanged on the BSE.

The headline indices ended higher for the second week in a row. Sensex logged weekly gains of 1.43%, whereas Nifty advanced 1.38% in trade this week.

Indices ended at a 23-week high since Oct. 21, 2022, last Friday. The S&P BSE Sensex Index advanced 2.55%, and the NSE Nifty 50 Index was up 2.55%.

All the sectors advanced in trade this week with Nifty Realty, Midcap 100, Pharma and Media being the top gainers.

• Bidding was led by qualified institutional buyers (2.41 times).

• The offer closes on April 6.

Source: BSE