Bank, auto, realty stocks stuck in a range ahead of RBI policy review

NEW DELHI: Shares of rate-sensitive companies such as banks, realty, auto and capital goods were trading in a range on Tuesday, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy meet later today.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan may reduce the benchmark rate by 25 basis points, according to a an ET poll of 13 market participants. A basis point is 0.01%. The benchmark repo rate is now at 7.50%.

According to an ET Now poll, nearly seventy five per cent of the bankers expect a 25-basis-point cut while 15 per cent are of the view that the governor may leave rates unchanged.

Then, there are others who expect a 50-basis point cut in repo rate. But these bankers have more company when it comes to the outlook for the rest of the year.

More than half of the country's bankers hope for a 50-basis-point cut this year. There are very few punts on easier statutory reserve norms.

At 10:00 AM, BSE Banking index was trading 0.3 per cent lower, the BSE Realty index slipped 0.50 per cent, BSE capital goods index dropped 0.32 per cent, and BSE auto index was down 0.11 per cent.

The S&P BSE Banking index was trading 0.30 per cent lower, led by losses in Bank of Baroda (down 1.1 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 1 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.65 per cent), and Canara Bank (down 0.56 per cent).

The BSE Realty index was trading 0.50 per cent lower, led by losses in Prestige Estate (down 5 per cent), Sobha Developers (down 1.6 per cent), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 0.76 per cent), NBCC (down 0.45 per cent) and Godrej Properties (down 0.43 per cent).