Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex pared its early gains to fell by 139 points as interest rate-sensitive stocks slipped after the Reserve Bank kept key repo rates unchanged in its first bi-monthly monetary policy.
The 30-share index, which gained 105.71 points in early trade, fell by 139.46 points, or 0.48 percent, to 28,365 at 1130 hrs.
The barometer had gained 546.97 points in the previous two straight sessions.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty was trading fell by 46.50 points, or 0.53 percent, to trade at 8,613.40 points.
Brokers said the RBI's decision to keep interest rates unchanged was largely in line with investor expectations.
The BSE banking index fell 0.63 percent to 21,223.84 with SBI falling by 0.76 percent, HDFC Bank by 0.11 percent, Axis Bank by 1.10 percent and ICICI Bank by 0.81 percent.
Also, the BSE Realty index was trading 2.17 percent down at 1,761.09, as shares of DLF Ltd dropped by 2.18 percent, Unitech by 2.85 percent, Sobha by 2.93 percent and HDIL by 1.59 percent.
In its first bi-monthly policy review for 2015-16, RBI kept the short-term lending rate or repo rate unchanged at 7.50 percent, and the cash reserve ratio (CRR), which is the amount of deposits parked with RBI, at 4 percent.
The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) has also been retained at 21.5 percent.
The RBI also projected growth rate in 2015-16 at 7.8 percent, up from 7.5 percent in 2014-15.
