'The rate cut will reduce the stress on customers and help the bank reduce its provisioning bill.'
All investors should ideally have a 10 to 15 per cent allocation to gold. Whether they invest in gold ETFs or SGBs should depend on their investment horizon.
RBI policy surely cannot impact agflation, in any case.
The inter-meeting rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indicates a shift in its monetary policy stance, the finance ministry's chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said on Thursday.
Two members recommended bringing down the rate by 50 bps in the April policy.
The rate cut would mean actual gains for vehicle buyers only when banks pass on benefits.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations welcomed the RBI's decision to cut repo rate and said it would augur well for the exports, while asking for slashing rupee credit by 1.0-1.5% in view of the appreciating domestic currency.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, Tata Motors and JSW Steel were the biggest laggards. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the gainers.
The imported inflation component is also expected to ebb on lower oil prices and softer US dollar, it said.
Ignoring the rate cut demand of India Inc, RBI in its first quarter monetary policy review kept the short-term lending (repo) rate, at which banks borrow from RBI, unchanged at 8 per cent.
Most rate-sensitive stocks ended on a negative note, with BSE auto, bankex, finance and realty indices cracking up to 2.10 per cent.
Banks are likely to cut rates even further, say finance minister Arun Jaitley.
When costs go down, interest rates will go down, says managing director and CEO Aditya Puri.
The benchmark Nifty and Sensex could see another 8-10 per cent from the current levels, said HDFC Securities in its outlook for equity markets in 2024. The brokerage said that the market movement in the next year will not be linear, and there will be more volatility. When asked about the market reaction to the General Elections in 2024, Dhiraj Relli, managing director and CEO of HDFC Securities, said more than the outcome of the elections, the market movement in the next three to four months will decide the market trajectory post elections.
But this might not be the best time to enter these, as probability of further reductions in near future is low
Although the RBI is not statutorily independent from the government, Rajan, like previous RBI Governors, has long valued his independence.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to cut the benchmark interest rate at its upcoming monetary policy review meeting, taking place soon after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results, amid inflation challenges, said experts. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may also refrain from rate cut as economic growth is picking up, notwithstanding the elevated interest rate of 6.5 per cent (repo) prevailing since February 2023. The meeting of the Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das headed MPC is scheduled for June 5 to 7.
HDFC, L&T, Hind Unilever, ICICI Bank among top Sensex losers
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its key repo rate by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points.
RBI's surprise rate cut has revived sentiments of India Inc.
'The effect will be seen two-three quarters down the line.'
Higher rural incomes, pay commission benefits, and lower interest rates are key positives: Analysts
The Reserve Bank had kept policy rate unchanged in its review on April 7.
Lower interest rates needed to boost manufacturing, officials say.
Benchmark indices failed to sustain gains and retreated from day's high dragged primarily by the losses in metals, information technology and bank shares as investors started to book profits in late noon deals. Earlier, markets had scaled fresh all-time highs on the surprise post-budget rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The 30-share Sensex ended down 213 points at 29,380 and the 50-share Nifty closed down 74 points at 8,922. Intra-day, Sensex reached the all-time high mark of 30,024.74 while Nifty touched the life-time high level of 9,119.20. In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index and Smallcap indices, down 1% and 1.2% each underperformed the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE ended negative with 1,882 declines against 1,010 advances. A day after signing an agreement with Finance Ministry on inflation targeting, RBI surprised the markets with an early post-budget repo rate cut of 25 bps (basis points) to 7.5% from 7.75% which was again outside of central bank's scheduled policy review meetings as the earlier rate cut effected on January 15. "RBI's latest rate cut of 25 basis points, while a surprise in its timing is in-line with our expectations of a sharp rate-cutting cycle over the coming quarters. With inflation sustainably lower by 500bps, the RBI has in recent months acknowledged the scope for rate cuts and was only waiting for additional comfort that the government's fiscal policy would not play spoil-sport," said Dinesh Thakkar, chairman and managing director at Angel Broking in a note. Analysts at Karvy believe that further monetary policy action will depend on number of factors including easing of supply constraints, improved availability of power, land, minerals and infrastructure, fiscal consolidation, the pass through of rate cuts by banks and the expected monsoon. Citing weakness in some sectors of the economy and the overall global trend towards monetary easing as rationale for the rate cut the central bank also exuded confidence in the road map for fiscal consolidation as laid out in the Union Budget, 2015. Commenting on how the markets reacted to RBI's surprise move, K Subramanyam assistant vice-president (institutional research), Asit C. Mehta Securities said, "The unexpected cut did take the market by surprise .However, credit off-take is not dependant only on interest rates. A gradual revival in the economy would be of more help which would trigger credit off-take. Hopefully this will follow and RBI's action would prove helpful. From market point of view this is bullish as equity becomes more attractive vis-a-vis falling interest rates." On the macro-economic front, the HSBC services PMI rose to an eight-month high of 53.9 in February up from 52.4 in January indicating strong expansion in output across the sector. Respondents cited robust growth of new business as the principle factor for the increase in activity. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 773 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data. Buzzing Stocks 9 out of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE ended in red. BSE Metal index, down 2.4% was the top loser followed by BSE Oil & Gas and Power indices, down 1.3% each. BSE Healthcare index, up 1.2% and BSE FMCG index, up 0.9% were the top losers. Bank stocks came under during late noon trades as traders booked profits at higher levels. However, RBI rate cut may encourage large lenders to cut their lending rates boosting demand for home and auto loans and provide funds for various stalled and new projects. Many stalled projects across the country are waiting for cash to restart work. The stock of stalled projects at the end of December 2014 stood at Rs 8.8 lakh crore or 7% of GDP. ICICI Bank ended down 0.1%, Axis Bank and SBI declined over 3% and HDFC Bank shed 1.5%. Sun Pharma gained over 6% on approval granted to Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) by US FDA for an antiepileptic drug. The product will be manufactured by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries at its Halol (Gujarat) facility in India. SPARC was formed in 2007 when Sun Pharma separated out its active projects in drug discovery and innovation into a new company. Dr Reddys Lab and Cipla have gained over 1% each. ITC gained over 1% after consecutive sessions of losses on the proposed larger-than-expected hike in excise duty on cigarettes in the Union Budget. The biggest ever auction of spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) started on Wednesday in the morning where government expects to garner Rs 80,000-1lakh crore from the sale of spectrum. Idea Cellular gained over 2%, Reliance Communication gained around 1% and Bharti Airtel closed 0.5% higher. Metal stocks were under pressure in today's session. Hindalco declined over 3%, Sesa Sterliteended down over 4% and Tata Steel closed down 2%. Profit-taking in IT stocks led to Wipro losing around 1.8%, Infosys declining 0.7% and TCS losing 1.5%.
Investors' wealth soared by Rs 10.58 lakh crore in three days of the market rally, where the BSE benchmark jumped over 2 per cent, and hit an all-time high on Monday. Extending its winning momentum to the third day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 363.20 points or 0.49 per cent to settle at 74,014.55. During the day, it zoomed 603.27 points or 0.81 per cent to hit its record high of 74,254.62.
Treasury gains helped ICICI Bank post a nearly 10 per cent increase in the consolidated net profit for the April-June quarter at Rs 11,696 crore on Saturday. Growth in the core income slowed for the country's second largest private sector lender, but the treasury operations helped it report a 14.62 per cent rise in its post-tax profit at Rs 11,059 crore on a standalone basis. The core net interest income (NII) growth came at a multi quarter low of 7.3 per cent to Rs 19,553 crore for the reporting quarter.
Commenting on the proposed fiscal stimulus package that the government intends to announce tomorrow, Bhatt said, although there is no threat of recession in the country, growth is slowing. This package will help increase liquidity and encourage consumption behaviour.
With an expected earnings growth of 15 per cent, benchmark index Nifty 50 may hit 24,500 level by December 2024 and move further to surpass the level of 26,500 by December 2025, Emkay Investment Managers said on Tuesday. The 50-share Nifty settled at 22,888.15 on Tuesday. In the previous day, it hit a new lifetime peak of 23,110.80.
The finance ministry welcomed an inter-meeting rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday, saying it reflected easing inflation concerns and vindicated the government's efforts to achieve economic growth without stoking inflation.
Real estate companies' borrowing costs have moved up by a third in the last one and a half years, from 11.5-12 per cent to 16 per cent now.
The benchmark indices ended higher on Tuesday, amid firm global cues, led by banks as lower inflation in July raised hopes of a rate cut by the central bank. Gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries also boosted sentiment. The Sensex ended at 17,728, up 95 points and the 50-share Nifty jumped 32 points to close at 5,380.
Lower inflation, FCNR(B) outflows likely to influence central bank decision
'The real repo rate is very high in terms of core inflation.'
After an extremely stable 2023, the Indian rupee started 2024 on a promising note and has turned out to be the best-performing Asian currency so far in January, appreciating 0.1 per cent despite 2 per cent rise in the dollar index. All other Asian currencies depreciated by around 1.4-4 per cent during the month. The local currency regained its ground against the greenback on the back of foreign portfolio inflows, said market participants.
RBI has cut policy rate thrice during 2015.
Existing bank deposits will continue with past rates until renewed on maturity.
'We expect the bull-market phase to still persist, but now led by large-caps which offer better valuation and benefit from FII inflows.'
'We expect continued pressure on midcaps, but any sharp correction looks unlikely from here on.'
The central bank may need to further ease the rates by 50-75 bps.
"Let's wait see what happens. This is the last quarter of the year where rates normally tends to increase. It would be unwise to say how rates will move in the next six weeks. We have also to see the demand-supply gap," Chief Executive Officer K V Kamath, told reporters in Mumbai.