Bank stocks fell soon after the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee chose to hike its key policy rate, the repo rate, by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent, in its second bi-monthly meeting for the fiscal.
Among Nifty Bank stocks, ICICI Bank was trading down by 0.83 per cent at Rs 281.75, HDFC Bank 0.76 per cent at Rs 2,048, Axis Bank 0.55 per cent at Rs 528 and YES Bank 0.52 per cent at Rs 335.
This was its first hike in four-and-half-years. The policy stance has however been retained as neutral.