Stocks finish with modest gains after choppy session amid crucial RBI board meet under new governor

Mumbai: Equities finished with modest gains after a see-saw session on Friday as investors remained on the sidelines amid a crucial central board meeting of the Reserve Bank of India. Asian markets skidded as concerns over global growth and the protracted US-China trade dispute sapped risk appetite. [caption id=“attachment_5731411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The BSE Sensex ticked higher by 33.29 points, or 0.09 percent, to end at 35,962.93 in choppy trade. The broader NSE Nifty rose 13.90 points, or 0.13 percent, to 10,805.45. This is the fourth straight session of gain for the benchmarks. The RBI board meeting got underway on Friday morning to discuss contentious issues, including a new economic capital framework (ECF) for the central bank and relaxation in the prompt corrective action norms for at least some state-run banks. This is the first board meet chaired by newly-appointed Shaktikanta Das, who took over as the 25th RBI governor on Wednesday. Among sectoral indices, telecom led the chart, spurting 3.08 percent, followed by oil and gas. However, finance, healthcare, industrial, consumer durables and capital goods declined up to 0.81 percent. Major gainers in the Sensex pack were Bharti Airtel, Yes Bank, ONGC, Coal India, NTPC, Infosys, Asian Paints, PowerGrid and ICICI Bank, rising up to 5.32 percent. The losers included Wipro (down 1.67 percent), HDFC (1.65 percent), L&T (0.79 percent) and Bajaj Auto (0.71 percent). The rupee, meanwhile, fell 14 paise to 71.82 against the dollar in intra-day trade. On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 675.14 crore Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were sellers to the tune of Rs 51.86 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed. Brent crude oil futures were trading 0.93 percent lower at $60.87 per barrel. Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’s Kospi fell 1.25 percent, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.02 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.62 percent and Shanghai Composite Index slipped 1.53 percent. In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX fell 1.46 percent and Paris’ CAC 40 shed 1.21 percent in their early deals. London’s FTSE too slipped 1.13 percent.