Sensex, Nifty rise after RBI holds key rates amid rising Covid cases

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.8% to 14,809.70 and the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.7% at 49,559 by 10:19 am.

Indian shares and bond yields rose on Wednesday after the country's central bank kept key interest rates unchanged to support the economy against the backdrop of a second surge in domestic coronavirus cases. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept interest rates steady at record lows on Wednesday, as widely expected, amid concerns rising Covid-19 infections could derail the country's nascent economic recovery. India's central bank has slashed the repo rate by a total of 115 basis points (bps) since March 2020 to soften the blow from the pandemic. This follows 135 bps worth of rate cuts since the beginning of 2019.