After opening the day flat, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day and ended the day on a weak note. Losses were seen across most sectors with stocks in the metals sector and stocks in the PSU sector, leading the losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 205 points (down 0.6%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 78 points (down 0.8%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.9%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 0.7%.

Asian stock markets too finished in red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 2.2% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.3%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 2%. Meanwhile, European markets too were trading in red. The FTSE was 100 down by 0.1%. The DAX was lower by 0.9% while the CAC 40 was down by 0.5%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64.47 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 57.27 at the time of writing.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept interest rates unchanged in its monetary policy review today.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 6% in its fifth bi-monthly policy review of the fiscal year.

As per the RBI statement, five of the six MPC members voted in favor of a status quo.

With this, the policy rate stands at a seven-year low. The MPC committee had last cut the repo rate by 25 basis points in August this year.

As for inflation, the RBI expects it to stay in the range of 4.3% to 4.7% on December and March quarters (H2FY18).

The RBI in its statement stated that the GST Council in its last meeting has brought several retail goods and services to lower tax brackets, which should translate into lower retail prices, going forward.

The RBI kept its projections for FY18 real Gross Value Added (GVA) growth at 6.7%, citing that the risks are evenly balanced.

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