Sensex ends above 18k

The Indian markets ended with modest gains on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank of India announced hike in interest rates which was inline with the market expectations. The RBI raised the reverse repurchase rate to 4.5% from 4% and the repurchase rate to 5.75 from 5.5%.



"The rate sensitive sectors like the Auto and the Banking reacted positively to the RBI move", says Amar Ambani, Vic President, Research IIFL. The mid-cap stocks too ended with modest gains on, however the small-cap stocks remained under pressure.

The Sensex added 57 points to end at 18,077, while the Nifty edged higher by 8 points to end at 5,427.

Markets in Asia ended on a mixed note; the Nikkei in Japan ended flat, Australia's S&P/ASX was slightly higher by 0.2%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.6% and Shanghai SE Composite was down 0.2%.

European indices were trading with positive, the DAX in Germany was up 0.5%, the CAC 40 index in France was up 1% and the FTSE in the UK was up 0.8%.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Auto index was top gainer; the index gained 2.6%, followed by BSE Consumer Durables index was up 1.6% and BSE Realty index was up 1.4%. Among the top losers, BSE Capital Goods index was down 2% and BSE Pharma index was down 0.3%.

The Mid-Cap index gained 0.4% while the Small-cap index marginally ended flat.

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Asian Paints, Crompton Greaves, Opto Circuit and Jubilant Org. On the other hand, gainers included Godrej Cons, Jet Aitways, Shriram Trans and Adani Ent.