Closing Bell: Sensex falls nearly 400 points, Nifty ends below 11900 after Budget

Benchmark indices ended in red as Nirmala Sitharaman's maiden Budget failed to lift sentiment.

Closing Bell

With Budget failing to boost sentiment, indices fell sharply for first time in last five days. While the BSE Sensex fell 394.67 points to 39,513.39and the Nifty50 declined 135.60 points to 11,811.20.

The BSE Sensex has plunged 390.41 points to 39,517.65and the Nifty has dropped 134.30 points to 11,812.50.

Market Update:

Benchmark indices remained under pressure with the Sensex falling 322.74 points to at 39,585.32 after FM Nirmala Sitharaman presented her first Union Budget. The Nifty50 fell 107.60 points to 11,839.20.

Sensex gives up gains, falls over 150 pts

The BSE Sensex surrendered early gains to fall over 150 points Friday, dragged by losses in oil and gas, metal and power stocks, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her maiden Union Budget.

The 30-share index was trading 171.82 points, or 0.43 per cent, lower at 39,736.24 at 1150 hours. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 55.70 or 0.47 per cent, to 11,891.05.

The Sensex had reclaimed the 40,000 mark and the NSE Nifty inched closer to the 12,000 level in morning trade ahead of the Budget presentation.

Top losers in the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, ONGC, NTPC, Vedanta, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, M&M, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and TCS, falling up to 5 per cent.

HUL, Asian Paints and Kotak Bank were the only gainers in the index, rising up to 0.81 per cent.

At 12 PM, Sensex was trading at 39,789.34 down by 118.72 pts | Nifty trading at 11,905.90 down by 40.85 pts

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Click here to get the latest updates on Budget 2019

Markets wiping away most of the gains made early in the morning. Sensex trading flat as of now.

Market experts suggest that they hope nothing negative comes in the Budget. Budget day data for the last 10 years suggests bulls took control of the stock market only on five instances.

At 10:53 AM, Nifty was trading at 11,934.75 down by 12 points & Sensex was 39905.43 down by 2.63

Rupee slips 20 paise to 68.70 vs USD in early trade ahead of Budget

The rupee opened on a weak note and declined by 20 paise to 68.70 against the US dollar in opening trade Friday, ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget.

Forex traders said rupee slipped marginally against the US dollar as market participants awaited cues from the Union Budget to be presented in the Parliament.

Expert commentary

We believe that the government is likely to tap small savings in case there are extra funds required to meet certain expenditure rather than issuing market securities: Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, CARE Ratings

The budget should factor in the challenges in tax revenues, especially GST, while remaining on the fiscal consolidation path. The focus for expenditure should be specifically on sectors which have a larger ‘multiplier’ on growth so as to improve the growth prospects and encourage job creation: Suvodeep Rakshit, Senior Economist, Kotak Securities

The key expectation from this budget is simply the spending on the economy to kickstart the growth engine, the focus area where immediate requirements:Rahul Shah, Vice-president -Equity Advisory Group, Motilal Oswal

We do expect sufficient signalling to revive investment climate in the economy and to address the issues of banking and financial sector reforms. We hope that the despondency on the slowing economy doesn't lead to laxity in fiscal consolidation. - Govinda Rao, Member, 14th Fibance Commission.

Expert commentary

"We believe it may be a budget where the government looks to shore up its finances, increase tax collection and stimulate growth," Anubhav Shrivastava, Partner at Infinity Alternatives says.

The budget should factor in the challenges in tax revenues, especially GST while remaining on the fiscal consolidation path. The focus for expenditure should be specifically on sectors which have a larger ‘multiplier’ on growth so as to improve the growth prospects and encourage job creation, saysSuvodeep Rakshit, Senior Economist.

Sensex reclaims 40,000 mark ahead of Budget

Domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex Friday reclaimed the 40,000 mark and the NSE Nifty inched closer to 12,000 level ahead of the Union Budget presentation.

The 30-share index was trading 114.67 points, or 0.29 per cent, higher at 40,022.73 at 0930 hours. Similarly, the broader Nifty was quoting 31.85 points, or 0.27 per cent, up at 11,978.60.

"The market is eagerly looking forward to the budget proposals, especially for those things that matter for speedy recovery or revival in growth and employment," said K Joseph Thomas - Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management.

Response from the market would depend to a large extent on the measures to enhance agrarian employment and productivity, and thereby demand, he said, adding that the fiscal deficit level and the glide path are also important as the markets have a dislike for major deviation from the direction set.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack in early trade included IndusInd Bank, L&T, HUL, Kotak Bank, HDFC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto and RIL, rising up to 1.14 per cent.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, ONGC, Vedanta, NTPC, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Bharti Airtel and TCS were among the losers, shedding up to 1.82 per cent.

Nirmala Sitharaman will make history today as India's first full-time woman finance minister to present the Budget.She has her task cut out at the country faces agrarian distress, unemployment concerns, NPA troubles and NBFC crisis, among others.