The benchmark indices ended on a flat note after trading in a tight range amid a no-surprise Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) outcome on Friday.

Sensex was up 20.59 points or 0.03% at 74,248.22, and the Nifty was up 10.80 points or 0.05% at 22,525.50.

Advertisement

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rates unchanged at 6.5% for the seventh consecutive time and maintained its policy stance as withdrawal of accommodation.

Throughout the session, the market remained lacklustre as the RBI policy did not provide clear signals on when rate cuts may begin.

In the sectoral analysis, the Nifty Realty index emerged to be the top winner, gaining over a per cent driven by strong pre-sales momentum and the government’s capex thrust.

The interest rates being kept unchanged kept sentiments strong for realty sector stocks.

Mahindra Life Space developers, Godrej Properties, DLF, Oberoi Realty, Brigade Enterprises, Lodha (Macrotech Developers), Suntech Realty, and others saw their share prices rise up to 4.3%.

Further, the Bank Nifty joined in the bullish trend and gained 0.9%. However, the Nifty Auto index sulked in trade.

Analysts expect banking and NBFC stocks to benefit the most, given RBI’s talks of improving the liquidity situation in February and March.

On Nifty, Kotak Mahindra, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and ITC were among the top gainers, while losers were UltraTech Cement, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance and L&T.

Volume spike of more than 400% was seen in Tata Chemicals, Mahanagar Gas and Gujarat Gas. A long build-up was seen in SBI Cards, Indraprastha Gas, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, while a short build-up was seen in Birlasoft, Trent and Dalmia Bharat.

Over 200 stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE, including ABB India, Apar Industries, Canara Bank, Force Motors, Glenmark Pharma, Hindustan Copper, Indraprastha Gas, Indus Towers, Ipca Labs, Jindal Steel, M&M, Mahindra Life, NCC, Oberoi Realty, PB Fintech, Sun Pharma, Sun Pharma Advanced, Union Bank of India, Vedanta, Voltas, among others.

Mid and smallcaps clocked healthy gains, outperforming the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.50% each.

Grasim, UltraTech Cement and Larsen & Toubro ended as the top losers in the Nifty 50 index while the Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI Life and HDFC Bank, ended as the top gainers.

The dollar headed for its first weekly loss in a month, but pulled away from two-week lows, ahead of a key US jobs report later in the day.

Demand for safe-haven currencies, along with more warnings from Japanese authorities, helped send the yen to two-week highs against the dollar.

Geopolitical tension boosted crude oil prices. Brent Crude moved above the $90 per barrel mark.

The threat of supply disruptions from prolonged conflict in the Middle East kept Brent oil futures above $90 a barrel, a level not seen since last October, with prices heading for their second weekly gain.

Investors remain attentive to upcoming US non-farm payroll and unemployment data, seeking clarity on the Federal Reserve’s future rate path.