Indian shares opened lower on Thursday, ahead of what many expect to be the Reserve Bank of India’s final interest rate hike in the current cycle.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.12% at 17,533.85 as of 9:23 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.13% to 59,607.13.
The benchmark Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex racked up a fourth straight session of gains on Wednesday, aided by financial stocks, although the focus remained squarely on the RBI.
The RBI is widely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points (bps) to take the repo rate to a seven-year high of 6.75%, and then pause for the rest of the year, although it is expected to leave the door open for more increases to bring inflation back within its target range, economists said.
The decision is expected at 10 a.m. IST.
Besides what will be the RBI’s seventh consecutive rate hike as it battles to tame inflation, investors will also watch for commentary on the central bank’s policy stance and future hikes.
“The RBI will hold on to its ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance. A change to neutral at a time of global volatility and no clear signs of slowing inflation momentum could be risky”, said Pranjul Bhandari, Chief Economist India at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets.
Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with the heavyweight financials and information technology (IT) sectors shedding 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, Equitas Small Finance Bank rose over 2% after reporting a 36% YoY jump in gross advances for the March quarter.
