Closing Bell: Markets react positively to the RBI stance, halts three-day losing streak

Domestic equity bourses Sensex and Nifty made a comeback on Friday, after three days of losses, backed by broad-based buying after the RBI left key rates unchanged as expected.

The Indian equity market settled higher today snapping the three-day losing run after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept key rates unchanged at record lows. The Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) today held the lending rate, or the repo rate, at 4%, while the reverse repo rate, or the borrowing rate, was also kept unchanged at 3.35%. Thus, participants cheered the move and ended higher.

At the closing bell on April 8, the Sensex was up 412.23 points or 0.70% at 59,447.18, and the Nifty was up 144.80 points or 0.82% at 17,784.30. On the market breadth, around 2232 shares have advanced, 1072 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged.

Top Nifty gainers of the day were Grasim Industries, ITC, SBI Life Insurance, JSW Steel and M&M, on the flip side Cipla, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma were the top losers. Among the buzzing stocks, Grasim Industries was the top Nifty gainer as it surged 6.09% to Rs 1,784.45.

It was a green day in the sectors as all the sectoral indices ended in the green with FMCG, metal, power, oil & gas indices up 1-2%. Broader markets were positive as well with BSE midcap and smallcap indices rising nearly 1% each.

In global markets, investors kept an eye out for news flow on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the recent COVID outbreak in China. In the Indian market, after the RBI meet, the focus has now shifted to the Q4 earnings season, which will start next week, with IT & Banking sector names.