Rate sensitive stocks gain as RBI expected to cut repo rate by 25 bps

The rate sensitive stocks including auto, bank and realty are in focus ahead of the announcement of rate decision by Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. The announcement is scheduled for April 4 at 11.45 am.

It is largely expected that the RBI will cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6 percent in its first policy meet of current financial year and then keep the rates on hold till the middle of next year at least.

"We expect the RBI to change its stance from neutral to accommodative in view of the global and domestic growth weakness," said VK Sharma, Head PCG & Capital Markets Strategy, HDFC Securities.

The Bank Nifty is trading marginally higher led by Bank of Baroda, SBI, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Meanwhile, Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty index are trading with 0.5 percent gains each.

Among autos, Amara Raja Batteries gained 3 percent followed by Hero Motocorp, TVS Motor, Exide Industries, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki.

Godrej Properties, Brigade Enterprises, DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate and Prestige Estate are among major realty gainers.