Sensex, Nifty50 hold on firmly to green after RBI switches to 'neutral' stance while holding rates

Sensex Today LIVE, Nifty Today LIVE, Market News Today: Domestic equity benchmarks held on to their intraday gains on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India Governor-led Monetary Policy Committee decided to change its policy stance to 'neutral' from 'withdrawal from accommodation' while maintaining key interest rates at existing levels. The Sensex jumped as much as 684.4 points, or 0.8 per cent, to touch 82,319.2 on the upside while the broader, 50-blue-chip benchmark Nifty50 climbed to as high as 25,234.1, up 220.9 points, or 0.9 per cent, from its previous close. Most stocks in the rate-sensitive spaces of financial services, automobiles, real estate, and consumer durables rose, with SBI, Bajaj Finance, Muthoot Finance, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and Titan rising as much as 3.0 per cent. Read more on rate-sensitive stocks

However, both main gauges gave up about two-thirds of their intraday gains in afternoon deals. At 1:45 pm, the Sensex was left with a gain of 209.9 points at 81,844.7 while the Nifty50 was up 87 points for the day at 25,100.1. 

Tata Motors, Cipla, Trent, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finserv and SBI, trading around 2-3 per cent higher each, rose the most among the 37 gainers in the Nifty50 basket. 

On the other hand, Nestle India, ITC, Britannia, ONGC, HUL, HDFC Bank, Reliance, L&T and IndusInd Bank, trading between 0.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent lower, were the top losers.

Bharti Airtel, SBI, Tata Motors and Infosys were the biggest contributors to the gains in both gauges.

The Nifty Bank—whose 12 constituents include the country's largest banks including SBI and HDFC Bank—was barely positive in the second half of the day after rising as much as 1.3 per cent during the session.

Infosys shares rose as much as 1.5 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 1,976.9 on BSE, surpassing an earlier peak of Rs 1,975, as investors awaited the onset of a new earnings season on Dalal Street. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys—the country's largest and second largest IT firms—are scheduled to report their quarterly numbers on October 10 and October 17 respectively.

Tata group company Trent's shares rose as much as 3.5 per cent to a record high of Rs 8,322.2 apiece. Now a Nifty50 stock, Trent has rewarded investors with a return of more than 9 per cent in five sessions.  

Midcap and smallcap stocks participated in the upmove, reflected in gains of 1.4-1.6 per cent in broader indices Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100.

Overall market breadth remained extremely positive for much of the session, with almost three stocks rising for each stock falling on BSE.  

Globally, the mood was largely positive as European markets began the day on a mildly positive note following mixed moves across Asia while Dow futures suggested a weak start on Wall Street later on Wednesday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose as much as 0.3 per cent in early hours of trade. 

Catch all the latest stock market updates here. For all other news stories in buzzing categories like personal finance, technology, automobiles, and much more, visit Zeebiz.com.