opened lower on Wednesday as investors stayed cautious ahead of the , with only four of the 50 Nifty constituents trading in the green.
The opened at 72,965.38, against its previous close of 73,067.81, and was trading at 72,652.47, down ₹415.34 points or 0.57 per cent, at 9.18 am. The opened at 22,690.45, compared with Tuesday’s close of 22,776.10, and was at 22,620.70, a decline of 155.40 points or 0.68 per cent.
The RBI’s MPC is scheduled to announce its decision at 10:00 am, with eight of ten economists in a consensus poll expecting a 25 basis-point hike in the repo rate to 5.50 per cent, which would be the first increase since February 2023.
“A 25 bp hike in policy rates is inevitable and already discounted by the market. What is not discounted is the monetary stance and the central bank’s view on the emerging growth-inflation dynamics,” said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.
Among the four gainers on the Nifty, pharmaceutical stocks led the advance. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was up 0.70 per cent to ₹1,216.40, while Cipla gained 0.49 per cent to ₹1,346.70. Bharti Airtel, representing the telecom sector, rose 0.64 per cent to ₹1,822.10, and Coal India added 0.40 per cent to ₹413.30.
Consumer and rate-sensitive stocks bore the brunt of selling. Titan Company was the top loser, falling 3.97 per cent to ₹4,369.40. SBI Life Insurance declined 1.90 per cent to ₹1,716.70, while metals major Hindalco Industries dropped 1.80 per cent to ₹923.55. Asian Paints fell 1.54 per cent to ₹2,386.80, and Bajaj Auto lost 1.45 per cent to ₹9,872.00.
remained elevated, with Brent trading above $101 per barrel after Iran resumed attacks on oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The price recovery follows a brief dip toward $97–$98, which had supported Tuesday’s market rally. “Brent crude is back above $101 and there are no signs of any reversal in FPI outflows,” Vijayakumar added.
The US 10-year Treasury yield stood at 5.27 per cent, having pulled back from a multi-decade high above 5.30 per cent, but continued to keep dollar-denominated assets attractive for global investors.
“Unless yields decline meaningfully and remain lower, the external environment for Indian equities is unlikely to improve substantially,” said Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder and CEO of HST Wealth.
On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closed at fresh record highs of 7,819 and 27,599 respectively, lifted by an AI-driven rally in technology stocks. The Dow Jones added roughly 250 points. Asian markets, however, were trading lower on Wednesday morning.
depreciated 13 paise to close at ₹96.42 against the US dollar in the previous session, weighed down by dollar demand from foreign portfolio investors and oil companies.
“The interest rate differential between India and the US is at very low levels. This is unsustainable,” said Vijayakumar, adding that a rate hike to preempt further capital flight had become unavoidable given rising US yields and a stronger dollar.
Foreign portfolio investors extended their selling streak to an eighth consecutive session on Tuesday, recording net sales of ₹2,961 crore. Domestic institutional investors, however, cushioned the fall with net purchases of over ₹5,088 crore.
“Volatility is likely to be high in today’s session on account of the RBI monetary policy outcome,” said Pabitro Mukherjee, Deputy Vice President–Research at Bajaj Broking. Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, placed 22,500–22,600 and 72,200–72,500 as key support zones for the session, with potential upside targets of 22,850–23,000 and 73,100–73,500 on the Sensex if those levels hold.