RBI policy review subdues markets

RBI Governor Raghuram is widely expected to announce this year’s fourth rate cut tomorrow and expectations for the same have further increased after the US Fed’s status quot.

Retail inflation dropped to 3.66 per cent in August and economy grew at a slower pace of 7 per cent in the same month.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley reportedly said yesterday, 28 September 2015 the central bank will probably raise interest rates later this year despite uncertainties over global growth.

The risk-off trade was evident as Europe remained in a bearish grip where shares were trading in deep red after mining major Glencore sank to a record low on depressed commodity prices the world over. The German DAX dropped 2.1 percent, France’s CAC 40 retreated 2.8 percent and the FTSE 100 of the United Kingdom shed 2.5 percent.

Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic zone rallied 1.9 percent after the company replaced state-run iron ore miner NMDC on the National Stock Exchange’s benchmark index Nifty from today.

Back home, Sensex closed 246.66 points down at 25,616.84 on Monday while Nifty closed 72.80 points down at 7,795.70. It shuttled between 7,893.95 and 7,787.95.

Market participants said the RBI’s stance remains accommodative but future policy actions depend on banks transmitting the front-loaded rate cut and government doing its part on reforms.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), on Monday was trading 55.46 points or 0.21 percent down during the afternoon session.

The major decliners were Tata Motors, Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Hindalco.

Market breadth was negative with 765 advances against 1,173 declines.

The total turnover rose to Rs 2,769.51 crore from Rs 2,567.09 crore last Thursday.

On the global front, Asian stocks ended mixed in cautious trading as investors digested soft Chinese industrial profits data and looked ahead to some key data this week from China and Japan to gauge the outlook for regional growth.

The Sensex had gained by 1,017.01 points, or 4.04 per cent, in the previous two weeks.