Buoyancy on Bourses: How mkts moved along Budget speech

The domestic stocks exchanges were in upward trajectory as the Budget speech was in progress. The key benchmark indices – BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty - opened higher ahead of Budget presentation and surged two per cent taking the market capitalization (mcap) up by Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the first 30 minutes of the Budget speech. In the first half-an-hour, BSE mcap moved up to Rs187.90lakh crore.

First 30minutes

The BSE benchmark Sensex surged over 443 points and the NSE Nifty advanced 115 points in opening trade, ahead of the Union Budget 2021-22 presentation in Parliament. During the first 30 minutes of the trading, the 30-share Sensex was trading higher by 443.06 points or 0.96 per cent at 46,728.83; and the broader Nifty was up 114.85 points or 0.84 per cent at 13,749.45.

Midsession

The BSE benchmark Sensex rallied nearly 1,000 points led by gains in financial stocks in afternoon session. The 30-share Sensex was trading 929.54 points or 2.01 per cent higher at 47,215.31; and the broader Nifty surged 260.05 points or 1.91 per cent at 13,894.65. On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer, rallying over 10 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv, M&M and SBI. On the other hand, Dr Reddy's, Tech Mahindra, TCS and HCL Tech were among the laggards.

At 12:50pm, as the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman concludes her Budget presentation, Sensex was hovering at 47,398.87 points, a rise of 1,113 points or 2.4 per cent, while the broad-based NSE Nifty was trading at 13,969, up by 334 points or 2.45 per cent. On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, ONGC, Titan and HDFC Bank were prominent gainers. Of the Sensex constituents, 16 shares were trading in the green. On Friday, the Sensex had closed 588.59 points or 1.26 per cent lower at 46,285.77, and the Nifty had settled 182.95 points or 1.32 per cent down at 13,634.60. Over the previous six sessions, the Sensex has lost 3,506.35 points or 7.04 per cent, and the Nifty has shed 1,010.10 points or 6.89 per cent.

Market experts and economists were of the view that this budget would be critical in terms of picking up the pieces after the economic destruction caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 5,930.66 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Elsewhere in Asia on Monday, stock markets were in recovery mode in afternoon session, after four sessions of losses. The global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.32 per cent to $55.38 per barrel

To ease access of finance and augment funds for the infra sector, the proposal of providing FPIs an entry into debt financing of REITs and InvITs will open up a large source of fresh funding for the infrastructure and real estate sectors.