RBI Status Quo Prompts Market Cool-Off

The Nifty 50 index was up by 8.55 points to 23,425.10 while the Sensex was up by 85.03 points to 74,445.04.

Despite early gains driven by positive sectoral sentiment and a new tax exemption aimed at attracting foreign capital to Indian government debt, the benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices sharply reversed course and fell into the red following the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy announcement. Even though the RBI, under Governor Sanjay Malhotra, kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% with a neutral stance as expected, caution over his remarks regarding volatile global economic conditions and geopolitical tensions triggered widespread profit-booking. This reversal was particularly evident in banking stocks and the Bank Nifty index, which gave up most of their intraday gains as investors locked in profits at higher levels post-announcement