Sideways trading amid Repo status quo

Mumbai: Snapping the five-day winning run, BSE benchmark Sensex dropped by 56 points in a highly volatile trade on Friday after the Reserve Bank cut the growth projection for 2024-25 and kept the policy rates unchanged.

After oscillating between highs and lows during the day, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 56.74 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 81,709.12. Intra-day, it swung 419.72 points, hitting a high of 81,925.91 and a low of 81,506.19. The NSE Nifty dipped 30.60 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 24,677.80. On the other hand, the market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies marginally rose by Rs1.12 lakh crore to Rs4,59,29,804.13 cr (Rs459.29 lakh cr or $5.43 trn). On the weekly basis, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,906.33 points or 2.38 per cent and the Nifty climbed 546.7 points or 2.26 per cent.

“Markets had been rising for the past five trading sessions. Hence, a small breather was expected. With RBI springing no major surprise in its credit policy announcement, investors booked profit in select frontlines. Although the undertone remains that of caution, the return of FIIs into local equities through select bullish bets has come as a major reprieve to investors,” Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.60 per cent and midcap index shot up by 0.36 per cent.