Nifty hits 8250, Sensex up on banks support post Rajan comments

Moneycontrol Bureau11:45 am Market climbs: The market is climbing up as RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan says that focus of the central banks remains on banks balance sheet clean up. The Nifty tested 8250 briefly. The 50-share index is up 45.35 points or 0.5 percent at 8246.40 and the Sensex is up 145.14 points or 0.5 percent at 26922.59. About 1316 shares have advanced, 901 shares declined, and 120 shares are unchanged

Banks are up with ICICI Bank and SBI lending support. HUL, Sun Pharma and M&M are top gainers.

11:30 am Analysis: The RBI has maintained status quo and has left the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 percent. Analysts now expect a rate cut in the next bi-monthly policy review in August.

Jayesh  Shah, Managing Director and Country Treasurer, Bank of America, told CNBC-TV18 that there are chances that liquidity may move improve soon.

Echoing his views, Arun Tiwari, Chairman & Managing Director, Union Bank of India said that the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been consistent in his approach. He said that if the liquidity improves, consumers will benefit and the bank expects it to improve in July or August.

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The market is unmoved as the Reserve Bank of India has kept key rates unchanged. As expected the central bank has kept cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4 percent and keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.50 percent stating that it stays on hold but stance remains accommodative. FY17 GDP is growth target kept unchanged at 7.6 percent. RBI says January 2017 CPI inflation target unchanged at 5 percent with upside.The Sensex is up 66.39 points or 0.2 percent at 26843.84, and the Nifty is up 29.95 points or 0.4 percent at 8231. About 1246 shares have advanced, 826 shares declined, and 110 shares are unchanged.

SBI, ICICI Bank, HUL, Hero MotoCorp and ONGC are top gainers while Axis Bank, Adani Ports, HDFC, Lupin and Dr Reddy's Labs are losers in the Sensex. Gold prices rose 0.19 percent to Rs 29,442 per 10 gram in futures trade as participants created fresh positions, tracking a firm trend overseas. Analysts said fresh positions built up by traders in line with a firm global trend on hopes that the US Federal Reserve will delay rate hike, rising demand for the precious metals, influenced gold prices at futures trade here.