Indian equity indices opened Friday’s trading session on a lower note, but soon started to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashed the key lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.25% from 5.5%. The NSE Nifty 50 was up over 50 points or 0.24% at 26,102. The BSE Sensex surged more than 200 points or 0.23% to 85,477.
The Bank Nifty opened 76 points or 0.13% lower at 59,212. Similarly, the small and mid-cap stocks opened flat. The Nifty Midcap opened unchanged at 60,299.
“Today the market focus will be on the monetary policy. More important than the rate action, which is very tricky in the context of low inflation, high growth and depreciating rupee, the market will be keen to know what the governor says about the emerging macro trends. RBI’s action on the liquidity front will be keenly watched,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.
“If there is a rate cut, that will be the last cut in this rate cutting cycle. A rate cut in the present context will be negative for banks since it will impact their NIMs and ability to mobilise deposits. On the contrary, a rate cut will be positive for rate sensitives like autos and real estate. If there is no rate cut, banking stocks will rally,” added Vijayakumar.
Let’s take a look at the key factors to watch out for today’s trading session
Early gainers and laggards
In early trade, among the Nifty 50, top gainers at this hour were Eternal (Zomato), Shriram Finance, Wipro, Infosys, and SBI Life Insurance. On the flip side, the key laggards in the Nifty 50 pack included Reliance Industries, IndiGo, Max Healthcare Institute, Nestle India, and Apollo Hospitals.
Major movers on Friday
The stocks that were the major movers in the opening trade included Infosys, Zomato (Eternal), Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, and Bajaj Finance, which were the major movers in the morning trade.
