Markets snap four-day winning streak post RBI policy

The BSE Sensex on Tuesday ended 115.13 points down at 28,071.93 after the Reserve Bank of India kept the policy rates unchanged while the NSE Nifty closed 26.15 points down at 8,516.90.

In the much awaited policy review by the Reserve Bank of India, the central bank kept  key rates unchanged, as widely expected by most of the experts. The repo rate stands steady at 7.25 per cent and accordingly, reverse repo rate is 6.25 per cent.

The RBI also said government economic reforms and the timing of any increase in US interest rates would be key factors that will determine whether the central bank cuts rates for a fourth time this year.

Hero MotoCorp trimmed early gains and was down 2 per cent. The country's largest two-wheeler player reported a 33 per cent surge in net profit to Rs 750 crore for the quarter against Rs 563 crore in the corresponding quarter last year on the back of higher-than-expected margins.

Brent crude oil dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time since January as Iran vowed to boost production immediately after sanctions are lifted and manufacturing in China slowed. Reacting to the news, BPCL, HPCL and IOCL were up between 0.3-2.3%. However, oil and gas exploration companies as Reliance Industries, ONGC and GAIL were down 1.4-2.6% each.

PSU banking stocks remained positive as the CNX PSU bank index was up 1.5 per cent with Bank of Baroda, SBI and PNB  rising between 1-1.5 per cent. However private lenders like IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank declined up to 2.7 per cent.