RBI holds rates, Nifty edges up on crude dip and Reliance buying

Indian stocks edged higher in early trade on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark rate steady for a fourth straight meeting and upgraded its growth forecast, while lower crude oil prices and buying in Reliance Industries gave the market a lift.

The BSE Sensex climbed 201 points to 78,782 in opening trade. The Nifty gained 16 points to 24,641.

From the Sensex pack, Titan, Reliance Industries, Eternal, Bharat Electronics, State Bank of India and Asian Paints led the winners. Power Grid, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra and Axis Bank lagged.

The RBI's six-member Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep the repo rate at 5.25%. Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the next move on rates and stance will be data dependent, with the central bank waiting for clarity on whether higher energy costs from the West Asia crisis feed into broader inflation.

The central bank raised its GDP forecast for the current fiscal to 6.7% and trimmed its inflation projection to 5%.

"For domestic markets, the macroeconomic narrative has become incrementally more favourable over recent weeks," said Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, founder and CEO of HST Wealth, a research analyst firm. "The RBI's decision to maintain its policy stance while upgrading its growth outlook and lowering its inflation forecast reinforces confidence in the resilience of the domestic economy."

Benchmark indices have faced divergence since Monday, when stock exchanges introduced the Closing Auction Session (CAS) for shares with futures and options contracts. The new mechanism determines closing prices through an auction process aimed at making price discovery more transparent.

Asian markets were mixed. South Korea's KOSPI, Japan's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng traded sharply lower. Shanghai's SSE Composite was marginally higher. US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 943 crore on Wednesday, exchange data showed.

Brent crude traded 0.13% lower at $79.35 a barrel.

For the broader sector, the RBI's stance reinforces the domestic demand story, particularly for consumer-facing and rate-sensitive stocks. Lower crude prices help refiners and oil marketing companies, though the sustainability of that tailwind depends on how the West Asia situation evolves. The HST stock page tracks one real estate-linked name in the current macro context.