Status quo: Markets trade flat after RBI MPC leaves repo rate unchanged at 6.5%

• RBI MPC left the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% while governor Shaktikanta Das expressed optimism about declining inflation and buoyant GDP growth.
• The top gainers in Nifty are HDFC Bank, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, SBI Life Insurance, Divi’s Laboratories and Hero Motocorp.
• Crude oil prices have trended up to $90 per barrel for the first time since October.

Benchmark indices Nifty50 and Sensex traded flat after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%.

Nifty50 was trading 0.01% down at 22,511 points, while Sensex was trading flat at 74,231 at 11:10 a.m. on Friday.

The indices hit a fresh lifetime high on the last close, on Thursday.

RBI remained focused on the withdrawal of accommodation in the first monetary policy of FY25. “Last year, the elephant in the room was inflation. It had gone to the forest but has been walking back now. We want the elephant to return to the forest and remain there,” said Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

On Friday, the top gainers in Nifty are HDFC Bank, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, SBI Life Insurance, Divi’s Laboratories and Hero Motocorp. At the same time, the top losers are Bharat Petroleum, Larsen & Toubro, Grasim Industries, Hindalco and Bajaj Finance.

The RBI today left the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% while governor Shaktikanta Das expressed optimism about declining inflation and “buoyant” GDP growth.

“Weak sentiment is likely to prevail in early trades owing to corrections in overnight US markets and its negative impact on most of the Asian indices. There could be sideways movement ahead of the RBI announcement on monetary policy and banking stocks are likely to be in the spotlight,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior VP at Mehta Equities.

US stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday after a Federal Reserve officer dashed hopes of rate cuts this year, ahead of Friday's jobs report. S&P fell by 1.23% in Thursday trade while tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.4%. The US nonfarm payrolls report is to be released in the overnight trades today.

The US Fed’s rate cut hopes are not the only factor that might impact trading today. Crude oil prices have trended up to $90 per barrel for the first time since October.

"The Middle East skirmishes have pushed up Brent crude to $91 and if oil continues to rise that can pose macro headwinds for India. It is possible that the exuberant Indian investors or domestic institutional investors DIIs flush with money may ignore the headwinds buy the dips imparting resilience to the market,” said Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Banking stocks are a good bet in the market as data on deposit and loan growth from banking majors, particularly HDFC Bank are positive, adds Vijayakumar.

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