RBI’s growth forecast buoys bourses
Key indices hit fresh record highs as apex bank revises up GDP growth prediction; Heavy buying in banking and other rate-sensitive stocks; HCL Tech, JSW Steel & Infy shares hog limelight; Mcap on BSE rose to Rs349.23 lakh cr
image for illustrative purpose
Nifty Nearing 21k Level
- BSE Sensex rose 303.91 pts, or 0.44% to new peak of 69,825.60
- Sensex touched highest intra-day level of 69,893.80
- Nifty climbed 68.25 pts or 0.33% to record high of 20,969.40
- FIIs sold shares worth Rs1,564.03 cr
- HDFC Bank, Titan, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank gainers
- ITC, M&M and Bajaj Finance among laggards
Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex and Nifty rebounded to close at their new lifetime highs on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the growth forecast for the current fiscal and kept policy rates unchanged, triggering heavy buying in banking and other rate-sensitive stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 303.91 points, or 0.44 per cent, to hit its new peak of 69,825.60 points. The index touched the highest intra-day level of 69,893.80 points. The broader index Nifty also climbed 68.25 points or 0.33 per cent to reach a fresh record high of 20,969.40 points.
“The RBI took a balanced approach by raising the economic growth forecast and also expressing concern on food inflation, which may have an elevated trajectory in the short term. A drop in rabi sowing and dipping reservoir levels provides a perception that foodgrain prices can rise. The impact was visible on FMCG stocks, which underperformed today,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.
In the broader market, the BSE largecap index moved up marginally by 0.10 per cent, while the midcap gauge slipped by 0.16 per cent and smallcap declined by 0.44 per cent. Among sectoral indices, IT, teck and bankex rose by 1.08 per cent, 0.97 per cent and 0.89 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, utilities lost by 1.72 per cent and power slid 1.58 per cent.
Among major Sensex movers, HCL Tech logged the biggest gain of 2.69 per cent, followed by JSW Steel (2.44 per cent) and Infosys (1.67 per cent. Other gainers included HDFC Bank, Titan, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. In contrast, ITC fell the most by 1.95 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 1.48 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 1.18 per cent.
Meanwhile, the turnover of derivatives in BSE Sensex scaled a new milestone of Rs200 lakh crore on the weekly expiry of Friday. The total turnover was Rs213.9 lakh crore as 30.6 crore contracts were traded.
