The Reserve Bank of India’s surprise rate hike on Friday and fears of another such rise at the central bank’s meet scheduled later this month may add some selling pressure in the market, specially in rate sensitive sectors like banking, auto and realty, they said.

“Despite our fundamental domestic economic data, markets are taking cues from global peers these days and in the absence of encouraging economic figures from international markets, Dalal Street is expected to see sideways trade,” an analyst said. Rel Power and RNRL counters will also be in the limelight on Monday, following today’s announcement of a merger between the two ADAG firms, they added.

“In past few trades, stock-specific movements are deciding the direction of the market. There may be some minor pressure in rate sensitive stocks for a brief period on RBI action, but energy stocks, which are on a rising streak post fuel deregulation, will push the market upward,” another market analyst pointed out. The merger news of RNRL with Reliance Power will attract some buying on the two counters, analysts said.

On the reaction to RBI’s rate hike, a leading market player observed that  “It is in line with our expectations and there is no surprise element in it, as the government had already raised fuel prices, adding to the inflationary pressure.”