Indian shares were trading flat on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India cut repo rate by 25 bps to 6 percent, in a widely expected move to boost the economy. The central bank kept its monetary policy stance 'neutral' despite subdued inflation.

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All the respondents to CNBC-TV18's poll expected a 25 basis points (bps) rate cut from the monetary policy committee in its first bi-monthly policy of this financial year.

At 12:30 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 38,906, up 30 points, while the broader the NSE Nifty50 was ruling at 11,653, adding 10 points.

The RBI also highlighted the need to boost domestic growth due to headwinds on the global front.

“The need is to strengthen domestic growth impulses by spurring private investment which has remained sluggish,” the RBI wrote in the policy statement.

Four out of six MPC members voted for a 25 basis points cut, while two called for the rates to remain unchanged. Five of them called for the policy stance to remain “neutral” while one MPC member voted for it to be changed to “accommodative”..

Indiabulls Housing Finance, HeroMoto Corp, Ultratech Cements, Asian Paints, and Bharti Airtel were top gainers on Nifty, while Hindalco, HCL Tech, BPCL, GAIL and TCS fell the most.

The Nifty Bank fell after the policy announcement but later trimmed losses to turn positive. Federal Bank, SBI, Bank of Baroda, Punjab NationalBank and Axis Bank were top gainers on the index..

Other rate-sensitive sectors like auto and realty gained with both Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto up over half a percent.

Nifty’s IT index was among the top drags, with HCL Technology, which was down 2.3 percent, leading declines. Wipro and Tech Mahindra were down 1 percent each.

Jet Airways extended falls to a sixth session, falling 3.5 percent after the company deferred March salaries for employees. The airline is operating only 28 planes out of its 119-strong fleet.

Globally, Asian shares stepped back from eight-month highs on Thursday as investors took money off the table amid fresh concerns about the ongoing Sino-US trade talks and their impact on the prospects for world growth.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4 percent after five straight days of gains took it to the highest since late August. Losses were led by Australia and New Zealand while Hong Kong, Philippines and Indian markets were also in red. Chinese shares were firmer with the blue-chip index up 0.6 percent while Japan’s Nikkei paused near a recent one-month top.