Sensex, Nifty start on a cautious note ahead of RBI policy outcome

Domestic equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened on a cautious note on Thursday as investors await RBI's monetary policy decision. The 30-share index was trading 31.03 points, or 0.08 per cent, lower at 40,052.51, and the broader Nifty slipped 18.20 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 12,003.45.

Top losers in the Sensex pack include Yes Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, ICICI Bank, RIL, M&M and HDFC, shedding up to 2.91 per cent. While, PowerGrid, Bajaj Auto, HUL, Coal India, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank and HCL Tech were trading in the green. Bourses were closed Wednesday on account of Eid-ul-Fitr.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE gauge settled 184.08 points, or 0.46 per cent, lower at 40,083.54. The broader NSE benchmark fell 66.90 points, or 0.55 per cent, to settle at 12,021.65. According to traders, investors were cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank's policy outcome.

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The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is slated to announce its bi-monthly policy later in the day. The central bank had cut the short-term lending rate (repo rate) by 25 basis points each in its last two policy reviews. Foreign fund outflow too weighed on market mood here, traders said.

Foreign institutional investors sold equity worth Rs 416.08 crore on Tuesday, and domestic institutional investors offloaded shares to the tune of Rs 355.42 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in China, Japan and Korea were trading on a mixed note in their respective early sessions. Bourses on Wall Street too ended in the green on Wednesday.

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On the currency front, the rupee depreciated 13 paise to 69.39 against the US dollar. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.23 per cent higher at 60.77 per barrel.