Market / Sensex jumps 400 points ahead of Union Budget 2021

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex and the Nifty opened on a positive note on Monday (February 1) ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament. As of 9:19 am, the Sensex was up 392 points or 077% at 46,643.16 while the 50-share Nifty was higher by 70 points or 0.51% at 13,704.40. Expectations are high from the Budget as FM Sitharaman has said that this budget will be unlike any other is in a hundred years. 

Top Nifty gainers & losers

Gains in the market were led by banking stocks following strong earnings reported by ICICI Bank over the weekend. Nifty Bank, the banking sub-index of NSE was up 1.69%. Among the Nifty stocks, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer, up 7.43% followed by ICICI Bank and Hero MotoCorp, which rallied 4.86% and 1.87% respectively. HDFC, IOC, SBI, Titan Company, Hindalco, Shree Cements, BPCL, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank were the other prominent gainers in the Nifty, rising between 1.15% to 1.56%.

UPL was the top loser in the Nifty, down 7.51% followed by Dr Reddy's Lab and Tech Mahindra, which fell 3.61% and 3.17% respectively. Cipla, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, SBI Life Insurance, Axis Bank, HDFC Life, JSW Steel, TCS were the other big losers in the Nifty.

On Friday, the Sensex closed 588.59 points or 1.26% lower at 46,285.77 while the NSE benchmark Nifty50 index settled 182.95 points or 1.32% lower at 13,634.60. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold Indian shares worth Rs 5,930 crore in the cash segment on Friday while domestic institutional investors were buyers to the tune of Rs 2,443.20 crore.

Market expert Kunal Bothra says the recent correction seen in the market is because of the "heavy bag of expectation from the budget after the terrible Covid crisis. Hence many players in markets have booked out their profits. The markets have had a terrific last 3 months and it had run up beyond expectations so it is a good strategy to book out profits as well."

Global markets  

Most Asian markets bounced Monday following last week's blood-letting as bargain-buyers moved in, but dealers remain on edge as surging infections and a stuttering vaccination rollout offset long-term hopes for the economic recovery. Japan's Nikkei was up 1.26%; China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.10%; Taiwan Weighted added 1.38% while the Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi index advanced 1.61% and 2.04% respectively.

On Friday, the Dow lost 620.74 points, or 2%, to close at 29,982.62. Tis was the first time the 30-stock gauge closed below the 30,000 mark since December. The S&P 500 fell 1.9% to 3,714.24 as 10 sectors registered losses. The Nasdaq slid 2% to 13,070.69 as Apple dropped 3.7%.