RBI Monetary Policy: Banking stocks surge 245 points; Yes Bank, Federal Bank, SBI, Axis gain big

In a major good news, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das along with Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members, trim down the repo rate by 25 basis points in FY19's sixth policy. The impact of policy cut was witnessed in banking stocks, as investors boosted the S&P BSE Bankex by a whopping 245 points with intraday high of 30,949.07 within few minutes of announcement. However, since the gains have relaxed. At around 1211 hours, the Bankex index was trading at 30,747.07 above 88.12 points or 0.29%. 

On the index, gainers list involved with Yes Bank taking lead, as the stock was trading at Rs 180.40 per piece up 2.33%. This was followed by, City Union Bank, Federal Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank rising in the range of 0.07% to 1.56%.

It was only IndusInd Bank which was the sole loser on the index, as the stock was trading at Rs 1,513.55 per piece down by 0.84%.

Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.5%. The RBI MPC also decided to change the monetary policy stance from calibrated tightening to neutral. 

These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting growth.