Sensex, Nifty open lower ahead of RBI policy outcome; Avenue Supermarts slips 3%; Tata Teleservices up 5%

Indian equity benchmarks slipped in early trade on Thursday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) policy outcome. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 114 points or 0.19 per cent to 59,575, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 32 points or 0.18 per cent lower to trade at 17,525. Mid- and small-cap shares were down as Nifty Midcap 100 declined 0.29 per cent and small-cap shed 0.08 per cent.

The Reserve Bank is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Thursday. “Today’s MPC decision is likely to be a dovish hike of 25 bps. The RBI commentary and inflation projections have to be closely watched. Bank Nifty continues to exhibit strength,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Nifty would find important support around the Rs 17,350-17,400 zone while resistance is placed at Rs 17,750. However, the market may move with large swings due to weekly expiry,” said Om Mehra, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking.

Nine out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.42 per cent, 0.41 per cent, 0.25 per cent, 0.21 and 0.22 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Avenue Supermarts was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 2.62 per cent to Rs 3,558.55. JK Lakshmi Cement, Minda Corp, Nykaa, L&T Technology Services, IIFL, Aavas Financiers, Cyient Ltd and Tata Investment Corp fell up to 1.78 per cent. HCL Tech, UPL, Axis Bank, Hindalco and JSW Steel slipped up to 1.29 per cent.

However, the overall market breadth was strong as 1,674 shares were advancing while 839 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, HCL Tech, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), HUL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Bajaj Finance were among the top laggards.

In contrast, Reliance Industries, L&T, SBI, Sun Pharma and PowerGrid were trading in the green. Also, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) was up 4.99 per cent in early deals.

Sensex had surged 583 points or 0.99 per cent to settle at 59,689 on Wednesday, while Nifty had moved 159 points or 0.91 per cent higher to close at 17,557.

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