Sensex, Nifty Tumble As FMCG And Private Banks Drag

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fell sharply on Thursday, with FMCG stocks leading losses.

Rate-sensitive stocks also underperformed after the Reserve Bank of kept its key interest rate unchanged for a sixth consecutive meeting, as widely expected.

The central bank projected headline consumer price inflation to be 5.4 percent in the current fiscal year and 4.5 percent for 2024-25.

The Indian economy is set projected to expand 7.3 percent in 2023-24 and 7.0 percent in 2024-25.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 723.57 points, or 1.0 percent to 71,428.43 while the broader NSE Nifty index dropped 212.55 points, or 0.97 percent, to 21,717.95.

Among the prominent decliners, Eicher Motor, Nestle India, Axis Bank, Britannia Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank lost-2-3 percent.

ITC declined 2.6 percent after British American Tobacco announced that it plans to sell some of its stake in India's cigarette-to-hotels conglomerate.

Tata Consumer Products fell 2.2 percent after Q3 profit missed estimates.

Among the top gainers, SBI rallied 3.6 percent amid reports that it is looking to sell Rs 5000-7000 crore worth of YES Bank shares via a block deal.

Hindalco, Coal India, Power Grid Corp and BPCL climbed 2-3 percent.