Rate-sensitive bank, realty, auto stocks close mixed on RBI policy day

Interest rate-sensitive bank, realty and auto stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday after the RBI left interest rates unchanged but maintained an accommodative stance to shore up growth.

Interest rate-sensitive bank, realty and auto stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday after the RBI left interest rates unchanged but maintained an accommodative stance to shore up growth. Shares of Bandhan Bank declined 3.57 per cent, RBL Bank 0.49 per cent, Axis Bank dipped 0.43 per cent and SBI 0.29 per cent on the BSE. In contrast, City Union Bank rose by 2.50 per cent, ICICI Bank gained 1.97 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.24 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank 0.44 per cent, IndusInd Bank 0.39 per cent, and Federal Bank 0.19 per cent.

The BSE Bank index closed 0.71 per cent higher. From the auto pack, TVS Motor Company rose by 2.22 per cent, Tata Motors 1.13 per cent, Maruti Suzuki India 0.49 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 0.26 per cent, and Ashok Leyland 0.10 per cent.

However, Mahindra & Mahindra dipped 0.75 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.67 per cent and MRF 0.42 per cent. The BSE auto index closed registering a marginal rise of 0.07 per cent.

Among realty companies, Prestige Estates Projects jumped 8.49 per cent, Sunteck Realty 5.48 per cent, Oberoi Realty 2.94 per cent, Sobha 0.57 per cent and DLF 0.21 per cent. Godrej Properties fell 1.48 per cent, Indiabulls Real Estate 1.35 per cent and Mahindra Lifespace Developers 0.31 per cent.

The realty index closed with a gain of 1.15 per cent. "The status quo was largely on the expected line. The apex bank is closely monitoring the impact of various measures announced in the past and now prefers to wait and see how the COVID situation pans out for further action. Having said that, their accommodative stance and expectation of easing in inflation keep the possibility of a rate cut alive. "Besides, the additional measures announced to support the stressed sectors were also received well by the market," said Gurpreet Sidana, chief operating officer, Religare Broking Ltd.

The Sensex surged 362 points to close at 38,025.45.   The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, left the benchmark repurchase (repo) rate unchanged at 4 per cent. "Given the uncertainty surrounding the inflation outlook and extremely weak state of the economy in the midst of an unprecedented shock from the ongoing pandemic, the MPC decided to keep the policy rate on hold," Das said. He said the central bank would remain "watchful for a durable reduction in inflation to use the available space to support the revival of the economy." The committee unanimously decided to continue to keep its accommodative policy stance "as long as necessary to revive growth". "The RBI MPC's decision on keeping policy rates unchanged was not unexpected. The efficacy of rate cuts is anyway low in the current juncture and the past rate cuts are still feeding into the system," Suvodeep Rakshit, Vice President & Senior Economist at Kotak Institutional Equities said..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)