Rate sensitive shares trade mixed after RBI keeps repo unchanged at 6.5%

Shares of rate sensitive sectors like financials including banks, housing finance companies and non-banking finance companies, automobiles and realty traded on a mixed note after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Thursday, announced its decision to leave rates untouched.

The MPC decided unanimously to keep the policy change unchanged at 6.5 per cent. Moreover, the MPC decided to lower the inflation projection for 2023-24 (FY24) to 5.1 per cent from 5.2 per cent earlier. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the inflation is expected to remain above 5 per cent throughout FY24. READ MORE

At 10:46 AM; the Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty PSU Bank indices were up in the range of 0.35 per cent to 0.51 per cent. However, the Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto indices were down 0.41 per cent and 0.10 per cent, respectively. In comparison, Nifty 50 was up 0.25 per cent at 18,774.

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Shriram Finance from the financials, Hero MotoCorp, Bharat Forge and MRF from auto and Prestige Estates Projects and Indiabulls Real Estate from realty were up 1 per cent to 2 per cent. However, DLF, Microtech Developers (Lodha), Godrej Properties, Eicher Motors and TVS Motor were down between 1 per cent and 2 per cent.

“There were no surprises on policy front as we were expecting RBI to hold the rates at 6.5 per cent. The central bank kept its stance unchanged to 'withdrawal of accommodation' as it maintains its focus on inflation, citing delay in monsoon, El nino impact and geopolitical uncertainties as upside risks to inflation. We expect FY24 inflation at 4.9 per cent slightly lower than RBI's estimate of 5.1 per cent, as base effect turns favorable and imported inflation eases,” said Ritika Chhabra, Quant Macro Strategist at Prabhudas Lilladher PMS.

“With inflation numbers down by 90 bps compared to last month, GDP growth on the upward trend - we all expected the rate to be unchanged. A slightly aggressive stance of reducing the rate would have been appreciated to fuel growth. However, macro policies are aligned with the GDP estimates and that is something to cheer on. One can sense the optimism and it’s a good time to build in India,” said Aalesh Avlani Founder, Credit Wise Capital.