Opening Bell: Markets trade flat as RBI MPC hikes repo rate by 50 bps

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday announced that the apex bank has raised key rates by 50 bps to 4.90%. The monetary policy committee (MPC) vote was unanimous.

On Wednesday morning, the benchmark equity indices were trading flat as investors watch the RBI’s MPC policy being announced today. As expected the RBI has hiked the key rates by 50 bps points along with an increased target for inflation.

"With the assumption of a normal monsoon, in 2022 and average crude oil price in the Indian basket of USD 105 per barrel, inflation is now projected at 6.7% in 2022-23", said the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

The US equity indices S&P 500 traded ended higher on Tuesday, and the crude oil price surged to USD 119 per barrel in the anticipation of the US oil inventories data release. The Asia Pacific markets are on the rise as the Chinese tech stocks rallied after the announcement from the government on the approval of releasing 60 new games, after almost 2 years. Japan’s Nikkei is up 0.91% and The Hang Seng index is trading higher by 1.70%.

The Sensex is at 54,941.03 down by 151.42 points or 0.27% points whereas the Nifty 50 is at 16,376.25 down by 40 points or 0.23%, since the last trading session. Nifty Bank was up by 0.07% and trading at 35,091.50.

 BSE Midcap was trading at 22,468.63 down by 0.42% and BSE Smallcap was at 25,995.18 down by 0.27%.

The top gainers on the frontline indices this morning were Tata Steel, NTPC, Titan Company, Ultratech Cement, SBI, and Axis Bank, whereas the top losers were Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and ITC.

On the BSE,1,278 shares have advanced, 1,424 shares have declined and 139 shares are unchanged. Also,105 stocks have hit their upper circuit and 97 stocks have hit their lower circuit.

The top trending stocks on BSE, this morning are Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, ONGC, Tata Steel, Biocon, Brightcom Group, Glenmark Pharma, and Ramco Cements.

On the sectoral front, energy, metal, power, media, and PSU sectors were trading higher. Rest all of the sectors were exhibiting bearish trends.