Nifty scales Mount 21,000 as RBI hikes growth forecast

• The RBI Governor announced an expected policy keeping all key rates unchanged.
• JSW Steel was the biggest gainer on the Sensex chart, rising 3%, followed by HCL Tech and NTPC.
• Growth forecast hiked to 7% from 6.5% by the central bank for FY24.

Equity benchmark Nifty50 hit 21,000 just as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced holding on to rates and hiking the growth forecast after the Monetary Policy Committee met earlier this week. Buying in realty, metal and commodity stocks also saw the 30-share BSE Sensex rise 120 points in early trade to trade above 69,600.

The Governor maintained status quo on policy rates, as widely expected by the market, keeping all key rates unchanged. Repo rate stays at 6.5%, SDF at 6.25% and MSF, bank rates at 6.75%.

Das also said that the RBI stance remained unchanged, i.e. “withdrawal of accommodation” with five out of six members voting in favour of this.

Something that will be heartening to the market is that the FY24 real GDP growth estimate has been hiked by the central bank to 7% from 6.5%. However, the FY24 CPI estimate has been kept unchanged at 5.4%.

Market gainers and laggards

JSW Steel was the biggest gainer on the Sensex chart, rising 3%, followed by HCL Tech and NTPC at approximately 1.55% gain. The other gainers on D-Street include Wipro, IndusInd Bank, ITC, M&M, Bajaj Finserv and HDFC Bank.

In contrast, ICICI Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank, and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.

"The market is likely to remain in a range in the near-term. Consolidation around the present levels is likely before the next phase of the rally begins. The undercurrents in the economy indicate a robust economy capable of sustaining the current trend of earnings growth into FY25,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,564.03 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Seoul were in the green in mid-session deals, while Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading with losses. The US markets ended with significant gains in overnight trade on Thursday, with the Nasdaq rallying more than 1%.