Sensex remains in red as RBI keeps rate unchanged

Mumbai: Market benchmark BSE Sensex was trading lower by 63 points at 29,911.37 in late afternoon trade after the RBI kept its key policy rate unchanged.

The 30-share index, which had lost about 122 points in the opening trade, was quoting 62.87 points, or 0.21 per cent lower at 29,911.37 soon after the RBI announced its first bi-monthly monetary review of this fiscal.

The barometer had gained over 353.74 points in the previous two sessions.
The wider National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped 21.55 points or 0.23 per cent to 9,243.60.

Brokers said RBI's decision to keep key interest rate unchanged was largely in line with investor expectations. The BSE banking index was trading little changed at 24,711.29 points.

However, the BSE Realty index was quoting 2.63 per cent higher at 1,715.19 points. Among rate sensitive scrips, ICICI Bank fell 0.93 per cent to Rs 282.20, while state-run SBI was down 0.29 per cent at Rs 295.85.

The RBI left the short-term lending rate or repo rate unchanged at 6.25 per cent, and the cash reserve ratio static at 4 per cent. The central bank also projected the GDP growth for the current fiscal at 7.4 per cent, up from 6.7 per cent in
2016-17.

RBI also projected inflation at 4.5 per cent for the first half of 2017-18.