Sensex falls over 205 points on RBI hawkish stance

New Delhi: The BSE benchmark Sensex fell over 205 points on Wednesday soon after the Reserve Bank kept the policy rate unchanged at 6 percent but raised the inflation forecast.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel, in its bi-monthly monetary policy review kept repo rate unchanged at 6 percent and reverse repo at 5.75 percent.

The Sensex, which had lost 100 points in early trade, continued its slide and fell 205.26 points, to 32,597.18.

The gauge had lost 67.28 points in the previous session.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty ended lower by 74.15 points, at 10,044.10.

Interest-sensitive stocks took a beating, dragging the BSE banking index down by 0.49 percent. SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda and Yes Bank fell by up to 1.44 percent.

Selling pressure also gathered momentum in other stocks such as Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Adani Ports, Wipro, NTPC and L&T.