Nifty nears 5500, awaits credit policy

Indian equities started the day on a negative note weighed down by weak global cues emanating out of Japan and the MENA region coupled with feeble economic data. 

A bout of profit booking by speculators on worries that the RBI may announce a hike in key rates in its monetary policy review later today further dampened the sentiments.

A CNBC-TV18 poll of bankers and economists shows that 70% of those polled expect the RBI to hike the repo rate by 25 bps to 6.75%. 65% expect a 25 bps hike in the reverse repo rate to 5.75%.

According to Samiran Chakrabarty, head of research at Standard Chartered,