INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
At 11:55 am, the S-P BSE Sensex had added 224points and Nifty was up 62 pointsThe markets have firmed up after the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent in its sixth bi-monthly statement of current fiscal year
The central bank decided to continue with an "accommodative" policy stance.At 12:10 pm, the S-P BSE Sensex was quoting at 41,300, higher by
151 points or 0.4 per cent and Nifty was at 12,140, up 52 points or 0.4 per cent
The BSE Midcap index has 120 points at 15,827 and the BSE Smallcap index has gained 0.4 per cent at 14,739.Today's statement is the first
after the presentation of Union Budget, in which the government outlined huge packages for farming and infrastructure, but only gave a small
cut in personal taxes and provided no new incentives for the beleaguered financial and housing sectors.Consumer inflation, or the rate of
increase in consumer prices, had worsened to 7.35 per cent in December - its highest level recorded in more than five years - primarily
driven by food prices.The rate-sensitive banking and auto stocks are in the limelight post the policy announcement by the bankig regulator
The BSE Banking index jumped more than half a per cent post the RBI Policy announcement
Among the banking names, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank gained between 2 per cent and 3 per cent each
Auto stocks are also witnessing select buying interest, with Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto gaining up to 1 per cent each.On
the other hand, Infosys, Reliance Industries and ONGC had edged lower up to 1 per cent on the BSE.The advance decline ratio favors the bulls
Out of 2,258 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,290 advancing stocks as against 829 declines.
