Market Update

Banking stocks remained under pressure on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy announcement, with concerns over persistent inflation, geopolitical tensions in West Asia and uncertainty over the central bank's policy stance weighing on sentiment. The Nifty Bank index declined 1% to its intraday low of 57,651.15, reflecting broad-based selling across private sector lenders. While the market largely expects the RBI to leave interest rates unchanged, investors are increasingly focused on whether the Governor Sanjay Malhotra-led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) signals a tougher stance to combat inflation that has moved above the central bank's comfort level.