A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was down 141.90 points in afternoon trade Tuesday as banks, capital goods, auto, consumer durables and metal stocks were hit following the Reserve Bank of India’s decision not to change lending rates.
However, the RBI cut cash reserve ratio (CRR) in its second quarter review of the monetary policy.
The CRR, or the money against deposits which commercial banks have to retain in the form of liquid assets such as cash, was cut by 25 basis points to release some Rs.175 billion into the system for commercial lending.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,642.01 points, was ruling at 18,493.92 points, 141.90 points or 0.76 percent down from its previous day’s close at 18,635.82 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 18,718.28 points and a low of 18,426.46 in intra-day trade.
The BSE midcap index was down by 59.39 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 69.46 points.
On the sectoral front, the BSE bank index was down by 254.98 points followed by capital goods index, down by 197.24 points, auto index, down by 173.12 points, consumer durables, down 136.42 points and metal index, down by 102.39 points.
The major Sensex losers included Tata Motors, down 3.80 percent at Rs.247.00; Hero MotoCorp, down 3.13 percent at Rs.1,845.90, State Bank of India (SBI), down 3.11 percent at Rs.2,102.90; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 2.33 percent at Rs.1,648.00 and , ICICI Bank, down 2.13 percent at Rs.1,045.80.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was lower by 52.75 points or 0.93 percent up at 5,612.85 points.
Among other Asian markets too, the trend remained flat — Japan’s Nikkei was down by 0.98 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was trading 0.55 percent lower. However, Shanghai’s Composite Index was up by 0.17 percent.