Sensex, Nifty slip as RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 5.15%

Indian shares traded lower as the Reserve Bank of India kept repo rate unchanged at 5.15 percent. Trade sentiment turned negative as the country's monetary policy regulator disappointed investor hopes of an interest rate cut amid slowing growth in Asia's third largest economy. The RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), however, maintained its stance as 'accommodative', while recognising that there is scope for future action.

The RBI MPC further sharply reduced its gross domestic product forecast for the current fiscal to 5 percent from a 6.1 percent projection earlier, while the growth for the second half of the current fiscal was also reduced at 4.9-5.5 percent against 6.6-7.2 percent projected earlier. India’s economic growth slowed to 4.5 percent in the July-September period, its weakest pace since 2013.

At 11:48 am, the Sensex traded lower at 40,769.73, down 80.56 points or 0.20 percent, while the Nifty50 traded 31.60 points or 0.26 percent lower at 12,011.60. The Nifty has risen 7.7 percent and the Sensex has gained 8.43 percent since the last rate cut in October, mainly due to measures such as reducing the corporate tax rate and expectations of more stimulus.