Indian shares struggle for direction ahead of RBI rate decision
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BENGALURU - Indian shares swung between gains and losses on Wednesday ahead of a widely expected rate hike decision by the central bank, which is trying to bring down inflation from an eight-year high while also keeping an eye on slowing economic growth.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.06% at 16,411.20, as of 0349 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.03% to 55,094.84.
After an unscheduled 40 basis point repo rate hike in May to 4.40%, economists polled by Reuters expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise it by 25 to 75 basis points on Wednesday.
Late last month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in an interview that another rate hike move at the June policy meeting was a "no-brainer".
"We expect the RBI to continue focusing on tackling inflation... while not entirely losing focus on growth given the uneven nature of recovery," Suvodeep Rakshit, a senior economist at Kotak Institutional Equities, said in a pre-monetary policy note.
While inflation looks set to remain elevated, mainly driven by high global energy and food costs, economic growth prospects have started to look bleak. Gross domestic product growth slowed to its weakest in a year last quarter on a year ago, the third consecutive slowdown.
