By Bharath Rajeswaran and Kashish Tandon
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares were flat on Friday, paring earlier losses as real estate stocks got a boost from the country’s central bank standing pat on rates, while IT stocks dropped amid uncertainty around U.S interest rate cuts.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was little changed at 22,501 as of 11:00 a.m. IST, and the BSE Sensex was unchanged at 74,206. Both indexes had fallen 0.3% earlier in the session.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained its main lending rate at 6.50% for the seventh straight meeting.
Robust growth provided space for monetary policy to remain focussed on bringing inflation down to the RBI’s 4% target, Governor Shaktikanta Das said.
U.S.-rate sensitive information technology stocks dropped 0.4% as comments from Federal Reserve officials on Thursday added to worries that the U.S. central bank could delay rate cuts.
On the other hand, domestic rate-sensitive realty stocks climbed 1.6% and were the top sectoral gainers.
“The decision to maintain status quo will keep the ongoing residential real estate sales momentum on course and unimpeded,” said Anuj Puri, chairman of ANAROCK Group.
While the benchmark indexes were muted, the broader small- and mid-caps rose 0.5% each.
Top private lender HDFC Bank rose 1.2%, building on a 3.06% rise on Thursday. It was the second biggest percentage gainer on the Nifty.
Real estate developer Puravankara jumped 4% after posting its highest-ever annual sales in fiscal year 2024.
Non-bank lender Aavas Financiers rose 6% on strong business update.
Food delivery platform Zomato rose 2.6% to a record high, after Kotak Institutional Equities reiterated “buy” and hiked price target, anticipating strong March-quarter earnings.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Shounak Dasgupta, Sonia Cheema and Varun H K)
