Indian stocks were under pressure for a fourth straight session on December 7 after the Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates for the fifth time to continue its fight against inflation.

At the close, the Sensex was down 215.68 points or 0.34% at 62,410.68, and the Nifty was down 82.30 points or 0.44% at 18,560.50.

Earlier, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India raised the critical repurchase rate by 35 basis points to 6.25% as expected and maintained its stance of exiting the loose policy.

Markets, which had started cautiously ahead of the meeting, fell into negative territory after the policy announcement and remained range-bound throughout the session. The last-hour sell-off pushed the indexes near the day’s lows.

“As the economy grapples with global headwinds, the RBI turned more realistic, cutting its FY23 GDP growth forecast to 6.8% from 7%,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

“The focus remains on fighting inflation, leading to higher interest rates. As the global economy slows, corporate earnings forecasts for H2FY23 and FY24 will likely be revised. Markets are currently trading at a premium. Slower earnings growth will weigh on market sentiment.”

NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, SBI Life Insurance and IndusInd Bank were the biggest losers from the Nifty. Winners include Asian Paints, BPCL, HUL, Larsen and Toubro and Axis Bank.

Among sectors, all indices closed lower except Nifty FMCG and PSU Banks. The energy index fell 1%, while autos, information technology, metals and pharmaceuticals fell 0.5%. The BSE midcap and smallcap indexes both fell 0.4%.

The BSE’s power, metals and real estate indexes all fell 1%. The auto, healthcare and information technology indexes all closed down 0.5%. The capital goods and fast-moving consumer goods indices rose 0.8% each.

Among individual stocks, volumes in Siemens, HDFC AMC and Delta Corp soared more than 800%. Delta Crop, Jubilant FoodWorks and Manappuram Finance posted short-term gains, while Siemens, HDFC AMC and Power Finance Corporation posted long-term gains.

Over 150 stocks hit new 52-week highs on BSE. These include AIA Engineering, BLKashyap And Sons, Cummins India, IDBI Bank, ITD Cementation India, ION Exchange and UCO Bank.