Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: After a lot of struggle, the market has ended lower. The Sensex was down 113.57 points or 0.4 percent at 28220.98, and the Nifty slipped 25.20 points or 0.3 percent at 8743.95. About 1721 shares advanced, 1158 shares declined, and 131 shares were unchanged.
HUL, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, L&T and NTPC were gainers in the Sensex while ONGC, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, M&M and Hero MotoCorp were losers.
2:55 pm RBI rate cut: A day after the monetary policy committee (MPC) debuted with a surprise 0.25 percent cut in rates, analysts today said the Reserve Bank will continue with the accommodative stance but the next action can come only in the February review.
In a note, domestic rating agency Icra said it expects the rate easing cycle to continue.
"With the indication that real interest rates (the differential between the key lending rate and inflation) may need to be lower than 1.50 percent given prevailing global scenario of negative rates, further easing by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) can't be ruled out," its senior vice president Karthik Srinivasan said, adding that he is uncertain over the timing.2:45 pm Metals buzzing
Reliance Infra owns two electricity transmission lines spanning Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and has a 74 percent stake in another in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
"Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) today announced the signing of a binding term sheet with Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) for 100 percent stake sale of its transmission assets," the company said in a statement here.
While the two companies did not give valuation of the deal, banking sources said the sale consideration was in excess of Rs 2,000 crore.
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The market remains sluggish as the Sensex is down 87.16 points or 0.3 percent at 28247.39 and the Nifty is down 23.15 points or 0.3 percent at 8746. About 1655 shares have advanced, 1077 shares declined, and 122 shares are unchanged.
Asian Paints, SBI, Tata Motors, HUL and Maruti Suzuki are top gainers while ONGC, Axis Bank, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp are major losers in the Sensex. SBI, Force Motors, Vakrangee and Hindustan Zinc are most active stocks in the BSE.
Tirthankar Patnaik, India Strategist at Mizuho Bank says there is a definite scope for further easing even though the Reserve Bank's monetary policy did not specifically mention it in its statement on Tuesday, said
RBI lowering the real rate to 125 basis points leaves significant scope for further easing, he said. "Going forward in the monetary policy report, we notice that they are looking at a 4.5 percent figure for March 2018 and now on 4.5 percent you put a 125 bps real rate gives you 5.25 percent on the policy which essentially means that even from current levels you still have another 50 bps to go over the next year in terms of incremental easing," Patnaik added.
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