Mumbai, Feb 7: The Indian stock market on Friday closed in the red as investors continue to assess the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s Monetary Policy Committee decision to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps).

However, the central bank maintained its policy stance, keeping a neutral approach.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to reduce the repo rate from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 per cent.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra stated that the committee remains focused on keeping inflation in check while also supporting economic growth.

Following the announcement, the BSE Sensex hit a high of 78,357 but later tumbled nearly 900 points to touch a low of 77,476 during intra-day trading.

The index eventually settled at 77,860, down by 198 points. This marked the third consecutive day of losses for the Sensex, but it still ended the week 354 points higher.

The NSE Nifty index fluctuated between 23,694 and 23,443, before closing at 23,560 with a decline of 43 points.

"The Nifty remained volatile as the RBI Governor announced the monetary policy. However, the volatility did not push the index below the 21 EMA on the daily timeframe, signifying a positive short-term trend," Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said.

He further added that the trend is likely to remain positive as long as the index stays above 23,450.

Among the top gainers on the Sensex, ITC surged 4.5 per cent, while Bharti Airtel jumped 3.5 per cent after reporting a five-fold increase in its Q3 profit.

Other stocks that performed well included Zomato, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, and NTPC.

On the losing side, ITC and SBI slipped over 2 per cent each after announcing their Q3 results.

Other major laggards included Reliance Industries, TCS, ICICI Bank, and Power Grid.

Sector-wise, Nifty FMCG and PSU Bank indices declined around 1.5 per cent, while the Oil & Gas index was down nearly 1 per cent.

In contrast, the Nifty Metal index gained over 2 per cent in the intra-day trading session.

In the broader market, the MidCap index managed to close with slight gains, while the SmallCap index saw mild losses.

Meanwhile, India VIX, the volatility index, dropped 4 per cent.

Out of 4,057 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,433 ended in the red, while 1,478 registered gains. (IANS)

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