Stock market review: Movers and shakers of Budget day

Indian stock market witnessed a dramatic event on Budget day, with the equity benchmarks swinging between gains and losses as bearish momentum intensified during Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech but managed to recover at the end to settle flat. Extending losses for the third straight session, the BSE Sensex ended 73 points lower at 80,429, while the Nifty lost 30 points to close at 24,479.05.

During the session, the 30-share Sensex declined 1,278 intraday today to hit an intraday low of 79,224. From the day’s high of 80,766, the benchmark nosedived as much as 1,542 points. In a similar trend, the NSE Nifty plunged 508 points to 24,074 from the day’s high level of 24,582.

The market saw sharp volatility as investors reacted to the budget announcements, especially the hike in capital gains taxes. The market sentiment was spooked after the FM proposed increasing short- and long-term capital gains taxes. However, the market staged a smart recovery as investors digested the budget report, which also proposed tax exemptions and customs duty cuts, helping consumer durables and FMCG stocks to recover from the day’s lows.

In the BSE Sensex pack, 11 out of 30 stocks ended in green, led by Titan, ITC, Adani Ports, NTPC, and Infosys. On the other hand, L&T, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank were among top five laggards.

Here are the top five gainers in the Sensex pack on Budget Day:

Titan company: The Tata Group company emerged as the top performer on Budget day, ending 6.6% higher after the FM announced to cut the customs duty on gold and silver to 6% in the Union Budget 2024. In her Budget speech, the FM proposed to reduce Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on gold and silver from 10% to 6%. Adding 5% AIDC, which remains unchanged, the total import duty on gold and silver is reduced from 15% to 11% now.

ITC: The cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate was the second best performer among the top 30 shares in the Sensex pack, gaining 5.52%. The FMCG heavyweight witnessed strong buying after the FM announced no changes to tobacco taxation in her budget address.

Adani Ports and SEZ: The Adani group stock was also among top three best performers, rising 2.83% as the government focused on shipbuilding and shipping reforms in the Union Budget. The budgetary proposals are estimated to unlock a market with a potential of ₹12 lakh crore as per market experts. The budget has proposed to simplify and standardise GST to improve export competitiveness and reduce total logistics cost-lower production costs and enhance the competitiveness of India’s shipbuilding and repair industry.

NTPC: The PSU stock ended 2.36% higher after the FM announced that the state-owned entity would form a joint venture (JV) with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for 800 MW ultra super critical thermal power plant.

Infosys: The share price of the country’s second largest software exporters gained 1.46%, extending the rally for the fifth straight session after it posted strong June quarter earnings. The IT major has posted 7.1% year-on-year rise in its net profit and 3.6% growth in revenue annually.

Top five losers on Budget day

Larsen and Toubro: The engineering and construction major was the top laggard on the Budget day, with the share price falling 3.10%. The stock saw sharp selling as sentiment was dented after the FM kept infra capex unchanged versus the interim budget. In the interim budget in February this year, Sitharaman had proposed raising the capex by 11.1% year-on-year to ₹11.11 lakh crore.

Bajaj Finance: The non-banking financial company (NBFC) arm of Bajaj group was the second worst performer among the Sensex pack, settling 2.18% lower. The stock dropped as investors booked profit after the company released its June quarter earnings report.

State Bank of India: The country’s largest commercial lender was among the top laggards in banking space, sliding 1.65% after the Budget announcements. The fall in SBI shares were in sync with major banking peers as the budget lacked significant sectoral reforms.

Axis Bank: The share price of the private sector lender fell 1.62% on the Budget day as investors booked profit in banking stocks as the Budget turned out to be non-event for the sector.

HDFC Bank: The shares of the largest private sector lender in India ended 1.39% lower amid profit booking after the bank reported robust earnings in June quarter. The weakness was also attributed to broad-based selling in banking stocks.   

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