Stock markets end slightly lower after post-RBI policy

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Friday amid profit-taking after the RBI lowered its growth expectations for the current fiscal year and forecast inflation to rise to 5.1 per cent.

Also adding to the bearish trend in equities were foreign fund outflows, geopolitical uncertainties and a weak trend in Asian markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 116.67 points, or 0.16 per cent, to settle at 74,243.34. During the day, it hit a high of 74,717.57 and a low of 73,988.75, gyrating 728.82 points.

A total of 2,138 stocks declined, while 2,056 advanced and 205 remained unchanged on the BSE. The 50-share NSE Nifty dipped 49.85 points, or 0.21 per cent, to end at 23,366.70.

On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark declined 532.4 points, or 0.71 per cent, and the Nifty dipped 181.05 points, or 0.76 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent and announced a raft of measures to attract foreign capital and support the rupee amid growing risks to growth and inflation from the prolonged West Asia conflict, elevated energy prices and global supply-chain disruptions.

To support the rupee, the measures included scrapping taxes on interest income and capital gains for eligible foreign investors in government securities, offering concessional terms for foreign-currency deposits from non-resident Indians and subsidising hedging costs for select offshore borrowings.