Sensex up 150 pts as RBI holds repo rate steady at 6.5%

Equity benchmark indices held onto their early gains after the RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the key repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent, maintaining the ‘withdrawal of accomodation stance’.

The BSE Sensex was up 150 points to 72,310 and the NSE Nifty50 gained 42 points to 21,970.

Power Grid, HCLTech, M&M, NTPC, IndusInd and SBI led gains on the Sensex, while BPCL was the additional winner on Nifty.

On the flip side, ITC, Maruti, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were the top frontline drags.

The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose up to 0.8 per cent.

Nifty PSB index was the lead sectoral winner, up over 1 per cent. Realty and FMCG pockets held slim losses.

Paytm snapped its two-day gains and fell 5 per cent after reports said CDSL is inspecting Paytm Money’s KYC process norms