The domestic stock market indices slipped down from session highs to fall 1% on Friday even though Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced measures to help cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
At noon, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 6.20 points, or 0.021%, at 29,940.57 levels and the Nifty50 index slipped below the 9,000-mark, to hover around 8,688.15 levels, down 46.70 points.
Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das today cut interest rates by 75 basis points to 4.4%. He also announced several measures to inject Rs 3.74 lakh crore liquidity into the system.
These measures come just hours after Moody’s Investors Service cut India’s growth forecasts for the 2020 calendar year to 2.5% from 5.3%.
Banking stocks were trading with decent gains after RBI slashed the repo rate by 75 basis points (bps) to 4.4 per cent, to fight Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The Nifty Bank index moved higher by 4 per cent in intra-day deals post the announcements.
On Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore relief package under Garib Kalyan Yojana — in the wake of the lockdown imposed due to the spurt in coronavirus cases in the country. The tally now stands at 735 — with 17 deaths.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown to stem the growth of coronavirus in the country.
(With inputs from agencies)
Source: Thanks WIONews.com