Monetary Policy Fails To Lift Markets; Sensex Ends Lower

Business

oi-Sunil Fernandes

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Tuesday, August 9, 2016, 15:34 [IST]

The RBI's Monetary Policy failed to lift the markets, despite expectations of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan maintaining a status quo on policy rates.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 122 points, while the Nifty dropped 32 points in trade at 8,678 points.

The RBI Monetary Policy was largely expected to be a non event, as a 22-month high on the inflation front belied any hopes of an interest rate cut.

It was also the last Monetary Policy meet of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, whose term expires on Sept 3, 2016.

Leading the set of losers was Lupin, which fell a huge 4 per cent in trade, after the results largely lagged expectations.

Other losers were Idea Cellular, which dropped 3 per cent, following a poor set of quarterly numbers.

Banking stocks which normally tend to be volatile on the day of the Monetary Policy were by and large very quiet.

Most of the stocks from the sector like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India ended the day flat to marginally negative.

Shares in Polaris ended the day higher after the Q1 consolidated net profit of the company was up 8.2 percent at Rs 39.7 crore.

Meanwhile, the rupee was trading steady at 66.77 to the US dollar. The RBI's statement that it does not see the FCNR (B) repayments as disruptive, calmed nerves.

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