BSE Sensex closes 233 Points up; Bank Stocks zoom

In a volatile session, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip BSE Sensex, provisionally ended Saturday’s trade up 233 points or 0.80 percent. The choppy session was caused due to the day’s biggest trigger — the Union Budget 2015-16 — which was presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The finance minister said India’s real GDP growth is estimated at 7.5 percent making India the fastest-growing large economy of the world. He also said a double-digit growth was now feasible. Jaitley did not change the income tax rates or increase the exemption limits for individuals. He said the government was proposing to rationalise various tax exemptions and incentives to reduce tax disputes and improve tax administration.

The proposals mentioned by the finance minister made clear the government’s focus on enlarging the tax-exempt investments/spend. The markets trade pendulumed during the budget presentation. It traded flat just after the presentation ended and subsequently plunged around 200 points at 2.00 p.m.

Soon after, the market pared its losses and gained more than 200 points around 3.30 p.m. The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 29,411.33 points, closed the day’s trade at 29,453.18 points (provisional), up 233.06 points or 0.80 percent from the previous day’s close at 29,220.12 points. The BSE Sensex touched a high of 29,560.32 points by gaining 340.2 points and a low of 28,882.02 points losing 338.1 points in the intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made gains during the day’s trade. It provisionally ended 57.25 points or 0.65 percent up at 8,901.85 points. Healthy buying took place in bank, healthcare, automobile, information technology (IT) and oil and gas sectors. However, heavy selling pressure was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables, capital goods, power, realty and metal indices of the BSE.

The S&P BSE bank index rocketed by 847.28 points, healthcare index zoomed 378.27 points, automobile index augmented by 280.98 points, IT index gained 145.37 points and oil and gas index was higher by 92.30 points.

The S&P BSE FMCG index plunged 352.53 points, followed by consumer durables index which was lower by 226.23 points, capital goods index lost 104.34 points, power index fell 25.70 points, realty index was down 24.45 points and metal index slipped 24.40 points. (IANS)