Indian share markets continued to trade higher in the afternoon and finished in green for fourth consecutive session. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 174 points and the NSE Nifty finished up by 55 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 0.4% while S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 0.8%. Gains were largely seen in pharma stocks, FMCG stocks and energy stocks. Meanwhile, metal stocks and software stocks witnessed majority of the selling activity.
Asian stock markets finished higher today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is up 0.73% while China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.28% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 0.06%. European markets are mixed. The DAX is higher by 0.08%, while the CAC 40 is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.32% and 0.13% respectively.
Rupee was trading at Rs 65.29 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading higher at US$ 50.11 at the time of writing.
As per a leading financial daily, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept interest rates unchanged today because it anticipates upside risks to retail inflation. It also slashed its growth projections for the current fiscal and raised its inflation projections.
The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the repurchase rate-the rate at which the central bank infuses liquidity in the banking system-unchanged at 6.00%. The central bank maintained its neutral policy stance but acknowledging sluggish economic activity, lowered its fiscal 2018 projection for gross value added, a growth metric, to 6.7% from 7.3%.
On growth, the RBI reiterated need to revive sluggish private sector investment in order to give a fillip to the economy as well as improve demand for overall credit.
In other news from economy, the global ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service in its latest report has said that India will overtake China as the fastest-growing Asian market for petroleum products by the year 2018, on the back of a 6% demand growth in the sector.
