Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty continued to trade lower on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India decided to keep the policy rate unchanged for the ninth time in a row, saying food inflation remains stubborn.

Continuous foreign fund outflows and weak trends in the US markets also drove domestic equities lower.

Extending its early trade decline, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 570.09 points to 78,897.92. The NSE Nifty tanked 178.2 points to 24,119.30.

The rate increase cycle was paused in April last year after six consecutive rate hikes, aggregating to 250 basis points since May 2022.

Announcing the third bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent.

He said MPC will remain watchful of elevated food inflation.

“RBI MPC is in wait and watch mode and has kept the interest rates unchanged, waiting for clues from the largest Central Bank of the world, the US Federal Reserve, before acting. Stock markets will continue to consolidate in the meanwhile,” said Umeshkumar Mehta, CIO, SAMCO Mutual Fund.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, Power Grid, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement and Asian Paints were the biggest laggards.

Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and ITC were among the gainers during the initial trade.