Rate-sensitive stocks edge higher after RBI keeps the repo rate unchanged

Rate-sensitive stocks—banking, financial services, realty, and consumer durables—traded in green after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the interest rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent in the early deals on Friday, October 6.

Last seen, all the sectoral indices edged higher, where Nifty Consumer Durables was up 0.33 per cent, Nifty Bank was up 0.23 per cent, Nifty Financial Services was up 0.42 per cent and Nifty Realty was up 0.75 per cent.

Rate-sensitive stocks are those stocks that are influenced by changes in interest rates.

Most economists had expected the RBI's rate-deciding panel to continue with the repo rate at the existing level. Currently, the repo rate—or the key interest rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks—stands at 6.5 per cent, following four scheduled and two out-of-cycle revisions between May 2022 and February 2023.

In the Nifty Bank basket, 8 stocks advanced and 4 declined. Except for Federal Bank, PNB, Bandhan Bank, and Axis Bank, all the bank stocks were trading higher between 0.13 per cent and 0.73 per cent. Among Nifty Financial Services stocks, 17 advanced and 3 declined; in Nifty Consumer Durables, 10 stocks advanced and 5 declined; and in Nifty Realty, all 10 stocks advanced.

With today's status quo, the RBI has kept the rates steady for the fourth consecutive time.

The MPC last raised this rate from 6.25 per cent to 6.5 per cent at its meeting in February 2023.

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