Markets recovered on Tuesday after Reserve Bank of India?s (RBI) policy announcement hiking the repo rate by 25 basis points dragged the BSE barometer Sensex to its intra-day low of 20,554.23. Sensex lost 217.78 points within 9 minutes of the announcement before ending flat at 20,683.51.
Among sectoral indices, BSE Bankex (-0.3%) was marginally down. BSE IT Index was down 1.06%, while BSE Healthcare Index was down 0.79%.
Maruti Suzuki (-8.12%), Axis Bank (-3.28%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (2.44%), were top losers on the 30-share Sensex. Meanwhile, most Asian indices were in the green. KOSPI (0.34%), Straits Times (0.66%), Jakarta Composite (0.44%) and Shanghai Composite (0.26%) saw maginal gains. Meanwhile, Hang Seng remained flat.
FIIs have net bought about $279 million worth of Indian shares in January but experts suggest the pace of buying is slowing down. Industry watchers believe that fears of a more aggressive cut in quantitative easing loom, which might impact FII flows to emerging markets such as India.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended down 0.26%, while Nasdaq Composite shed 1.08%.