Sensex slips below 30,000 despite RBI's rate cut

The domestic stock market indices slipped down from session highs to fall 1% on Friday even though Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced measures to help cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

At noon, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 6.20 points, or 0.021%, at 29,940.57 levels and the Nifty50 index slipped below the 9,000-mark, to hover around 8,688.15 levels, down 46.70 points.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das today cut interest rates by 75 basis points to 4.4%. He also announced several measures to inject Rs 3.74 lakh crore liquidity into the system.

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These measures come just hours after Moody's Investors Service cut India's growth forecasts for the 2020 calendar year to 2.5% from 5.3%.

Banking stocks were trading with decent gainsafter RBIslashed the repo rate by 75 basis points (bps) to 4.4 per cent, to fight Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The Nifty Bank index moved higher by 4 per cent in intra-day deals post the announcements.

On Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore relief package under Garib Kalyan Yojana — in the wake of the lockdown imposed due to the spurt in coronavirus cases in the country. The tally now stands at735 — with 17 deaths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown to stem the growth of coronavirus in the country.

(With inputs from agencies)