Sensex, Nifty gain by nearly one per cent; Tata Communication locks in at upper circuit, Bata declines by over four per cent

On Thursday, with RBI's announcement of keeping the repo rate unchanged at four per cent, Sensex rose by 362.12 points or by 0.96 per cent to close at 38,025.45 while its NSE counterpart Nifty gained by 98.50 points or 0.89 per cent to end at 11,200.15.

Asian indices such as Shanghai index and KOSPI closed in green, up by 0.26 per cent and 1.33 per cent respectively, whereas Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and Japan's Nikkei index ended the trading in negative, down by 0.69 per cent and 0.43 per cent respectively. In the European markets, FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 were seen trading in red, down by 1.61 per cent, 0.13 per cent and 0.61 per cent respectively.

In the Indian economy, economic activity has begun to pick up post lockdowns implemented due to the pandemic. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to leave the interest rates unchanged while maintaining an accommodative stance. Additional measures announced by the RBI Governor such as permitting restructuring of MSME debt till March 31, 2021, including lending to start-ups under Priority Sector Lending and increasing the loan-to-value ratio of gold loans to 90 per cent have been well-received in the markets.

In the Sensex basket, 23 stocks advanced while seven stocks declined. Sensex gainers comprised Tata Steel gaining by 3.82 per cent, Infosys increasing by 2.60 per cent, Bajaj Finance rising by 2.54 per cent, TCS increasing by 2.16 per cent, ICICI Bank gaining by 1.97 per cent, Tech Mahindra up by 1.71 per cent, etc.

Sensex losers consisted of Mahindra & Mahindra dropping by 0.75 per cent, Bharti Airtel dipping by 0.60 per cent, Larsen & Toubro falling by 0.44 per cent, Axis Bank decreasing by 0.43 per cent, Bajaj Auto declining by 0.35 per cent, SBI down by 0.29 per cent and UltraTech Cement down by 0.12 per cent.

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, IT index was the biggest gainer, up by 2.21 per cent, followed by TECK index and FMCG index gaining by 1.76 per cent and 1.37 per cent respectively. On the contrary, only three sectoral indices on BSE ended in the negative territory with Telecom index being the biggest loser, down by 0.31 per cent, followed by Capital Goods index and Power index declining by 0.29 per cent and 0.09 per cent respectively. BSE small-cap index and BSE mid-cap index rose by 0.99 per cent and 0.77 per cent respectively.