Sensex rises 153 points after RBI retains GDP growth forecast at 7.2%

The Indian stock markets’ key indices, Sensex and Nifty, turned positive after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) retained the GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal at 7.2 per cent and hiked policy repo rate by 50 basis points to tame inflation.The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex was trading 153.6 points or 0.28 per cent higher at 55,260.94 points at 12.50 pm against its previous day’s close at 55,107.34 points.Earlier, the Sensex opened in the positive at 55,345.51 points but slipped into negative soon after the opening of the trade. The Sensex fell to a low of 54,683.30 points in the morning trade. The index rose sharply after RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the decisions of the monetary policy committee on rate hikes.The RBI Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday hiked the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.9 per cent and raised the inflation projection for the current financial year to 6.7 per cent from its earlier estimate of 5.7 per cent. However, the central bank has retained the GDP growth projection for the current financial year at 7.2 per cent.The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange was trading 24.85 points or 0.15 per cent higher at 16,441.20 points against its previous day’s close at 16,416.35 points.The Nifty had lost 153.20 points or 0.92 per cent on Tuesday.Banking, metal and IT stocks led the rally.State Bank of India jumped 2.13 per cent to ₹473.20. Bajaj Finance rose 1.67 per cent to ₹5976.85. Tata Steel rose 1.54 per cent to ₹1085.Titan, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, L&T and HCL Technologies were among the major Sensex gainers.The index heavyweight Reliance Industries Limited slipped 1.32 per cent to ₹2736. Bharti Airtel dipped 1.30 per cent. Asian Paints, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra and Nestle India were among the major Sensex losers.