Sensex, Nifty50 surge post RBI rate hike – IT, metal stocks lead gains while auto, realty stocks drag

• India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 rose after the 25 basis point rate hike announced by the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday.
• Amongst sectoral indices, metal and IT led the gains, while auto and realty stocks declined.
• The 30-stock Sensex gained 0.6% or 358 points to 60,643, while the 50-stock Nifty50 rose 0.7% or 124 points to 17,845 as of 12:15 p.m.

India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 rose after the 25 basis point rate hike announced by the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday. Amongst sectoral indices, metal and IT led the gains, while auto and realty stocks declined.

The 30-stock Sensex gained 0.6% or 358 points to 60,643, while the 50-stock Nifty50 rose 0.7% or 124 points to 17,845 as of 12:15 p.m.

Earlier on Tuesday, both Sensex and Nifty50 capped off a volatile trading session and closed in the red after a selloff in FMCG and steel stocks. While the 30-stock Sensex declined 0.37% or 221 points at 60,286, the 50-stock Nifty50 ended 0.24% or 43 points lower at 17,722.

Top gainers and losers on Nifty50


Source: NSE, as of 12:15 p.m., February 8, 2023


“The rate hike was in line with expectations. However markets were expecting an explicit statement suggesting a pause which has not happened. This suggests the tug of war between growth and inflation continues. While chances of pause still remain, the uncertainty may persist,” said Lakshmi Iyer, CEO-Investment Advisory, Kotak Investment Advisors.

Investors turn their focus on RBI MPC outcome

Investors await the outcome from RBI’s monetary policy meeting today that will provide direction to the market. Markets expect a 25 basis points hike in repo rate to 6.5%. The last time RBI hiked repo rates was in December, with the hike standing at 35 basis points.

“RBI’s policy announcement on Wednesday will provide more colour on its future rate actions, which is expected to hike rate by 25bps,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

US markets rebound on Powell commentary

Markets in the US rebounded on Tuesday as investors rejoiced on US Fed chair Jerome Powell’s comments that “disinflation is underway”.

The benchmark S&P 500 closed 1.29% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.78%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, on the other hand, gained 1.9%.

Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday, with Taiwan Weighted being flat in the morning, while the Hang Seng index was marginally down. KOSPI gained 1.37%, while Nikkei 225 was down 0.52%. Shanghai Composite declined 0.09%.

Stocks to watch

Bharti Airtel: India’s second largest telco missed analyst estimates and reported a below-expected net profit in Q3 at ₹1,588 crore. Revenue was slightly higher than estimates, at ₹35,299 crore, while average revenue per user edged up to ₹193 in Q3 from ₹190 in Q2.

Hero MotoCorp: The two-wheeler maker reported a 4% growth year-on-year to ₹711 crore on muted sales, while revenue edged up just 2% YoY to ₹8,031 crore. Its total sales declined 4% YoY to 12.4 lakh units.

Vodafone Idea: It allocated 16.13 crore shares or about 33.44% stake to the government, making it the single largest shareholder.

Adani Green: The company reported a 110% YoY increase in net profit to ₹103 crore, while revenue surged 41% to ₹1,973 crore.

Earnings today: Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, Shree Cement, Cummins India, Graphite India, Piramal Enterprises, Equitas Small Finance Bank, among others.

Stocks in F&O ban

Ambuja Cements is under F&O ban today.

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