Sensex slips 132 points, Nifty at 15,670; Nestle, SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank top losers

Sensex fell 132 points on Friday as banking stocks saw profit-booking post Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy announcements. Sensex closed 132 points lower at 52,100 and Nifty slipped 20.10 points to 15,670.

Nestle India was the top Sensex loser, falling around 2 per cent, followed by SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HUL and Dr Reddy's.

Bajaj Finserv, ONGC, L&T, Bajaj Finance and HDFC were among the top Sensex gainers, rising  up to  2.53%.

Of 30 Sensex stocks, 16 ended in the red.

BSE midcap and small cap indices rose 141 points and 186 points, respectively.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "The market had opened with mild positivity but pared gains post announcement of RBI monetary policy. Factoring the impact of second-wave, RBI reduced the FY22 GDP forecast from 10.5% to 9.5% and trimmed the inflation forecast from 5.2% to 5.1%. As expected, RBI kept its policy rates unchanged and reiterated its accommodative stance. G-Sec buying and liquidity support to MSMEs and affected sectors will help to overcome the pandemic hit economy"

Banking and consumer durables shares led the losses with their BSE indices falling 383 points and 262 points, respectively. Capital goods shares and oil and gas stocks led the gains with their BSE indices rising 258 points and 208 points, respectively.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to a record Rs 227.20 lakh crore against market cap of Rs 226.51 lakh crore in the previous session.Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research  Analyst at HDFC Securities said, "The short-term up trend status of Nifty remains intact and the last two sessions consolidation movement has not changed the positive sentiment of the market. The next upside levels to be watched around 15,800-15,900 levels, before showing any downward correction from the highs. This could be achieved by next week. Immediate support is placed at 15,600 levels."

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday left the key interest rates unchanged at record lows as it reiterated its commitment to keep its monetary policy accommodative to help the economy recover from the world's worst outbreak of COVID-19 infections.

It also lowered its forecast for the country's economic growth to 9.5 per cent for the current financial year ending March 31, 2022, from the previous estimate of 10.5 per cent.

Market breadth was positive with 1,878 shares ending higher against 1,294 shares closing lower on BSE. 151 stocks were unchanged.

Bourses in Shanghai ended with gains, while Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were in the red.

Equities in Europe were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.38 per cent higher at $71.58 per barrel.