Sensex Plunges Over 1,300 pts; Nifty Sinks Below 16,700 on RBI's Mid-Cycle Rate Hike

Benchmark indices continued to fall for the third day on a trot on Wednesday as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to hike the repo rate. At Close, the Sensex was down 1,306.96 points or 2.29 per cent at 55,669.03, and the Nifty was down 391.50 points or 2.29 per cent at 16,677.60. About 825 shares have advanced, 2454 shares declined, and 98 shares are unchanged.

Apollo Hospitals, Adani Ports, Hindalco Industries, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the top Nifty losers, while gainers were ONGC, Britannia Industries, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

All the sectoral indices ended in the red with auto, bank, FMCG, power, metal, realty, healthcare, capital goods indices down 1-3 per cent. BSE midcap index shed 2.63 per cent and the smallcap index fell 2.11 per cent.

Global Cues

US stocks eked out modest gains after a choppy day of trading Tuesday as Wall Street waits to find out how aggressively the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its latest policy meeting on Wednesday. The S&P500 ended 0.5 per cent higher after briefly slipping into the red earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 per cent and the Nasdaq inched up 0.2 per cent. Banks and other financial stocks helped lift the market.

Hong Kong shares kicked off Wednesday with a small loss following a mildly positive lead from Wall Street ahead of an expected Federal Reserve rate hike decision later in the day. The Hang Seng Index eased 0.36 per cent, or 76.19 points to 21,025.70.

Financial markets in China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand are closed on Wednesday for public holidays.