Markets snaps 6-day rally ahead of RBI's decision on key rates

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty snapped their six-session rally to close marginally lower on Thursday as investors booked profit in banking, finance and energy counters ahead of the RBI's policy decision.

The RBI's rate-setting panel will announce its bi-monthly monetary policy on Friday amid expectations of at least a 35-basis-point hike in the interest rate to check high inflation. A depreciating rupee further weighed on sentiment, traders said.

In choppy trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 51.73 points or 0.09 per cent lower at 58,298.80. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 6.15 points or 0.04 per cent to 17,382.

NTPC was the biggest laggard in the Sensex pack, slipping 3.10 per cent, followed by SBI, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and HDFC. In contrast, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, Infosys, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel were among the major gainers, climbing up to 2.46 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge went higher by 0.29 per cent and the smallcap index advanced 0.25 per cent. From the BSE sectoral indices, telecom declined by 1.14 per cent, followed by realty (1.11 per cent), utilities (0.70 per cent) and power

(0.64 per cent).