Sensex Sensex zooms 1200 points, Nifty crosses 22k a day after Interim Budget

BSE Sensex has now zoomed more than 1200 points on Friday as markets absorb the Interim Budget 2024-25. BSE Sensex is at 72,916.43 points, up 1271.13 points or 1.77 per cent.

Powergrid is top gainer up by 5 per cent followed by Infosys up by 3 per cent, NTPC is up 3 per cent, Tech Mahindra is up 3 per cent.

The Nifty crossed the 22k mark. Nifty top gainers are BPCL up 6 per cent, Adani Ports, up by more than 5 per cent.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in a report that the Interim Union Budget 2024 was presented on 1st Feb'24. Although the Finance Minister had already informed that no "spectacular announcements" are forthcoming, the market participants had some expectations.

However, notwithstanding the general elections, the ability of the GoI to resist any populist schemes or incentives is extremely commendable. Not only this, the fact that the GoI has budgeted a fiscal deficit of 5.1 per cent of GDP for FY25 (and lower than budgeted in FY24RE), it is extremely serious about its (tall) task of achieving 4.5 per cent of GDP by FY26.

This clearly shows that the GoI is totally committed towards the long-term macro-economic stability, even if it comes at the sacrifice of growth in the short-term, the report said.

Earlier, V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said the non-populist Budget focused on fiscal consolidation is a big positive.

"The big allocation for rural housing will benefit all construction-related segments like cement, steel, paints etc. Another important budget takeaway is the sharp decline in bond yields consequent to the net market borrowing kept low at Rs 11.75 trillion. This is beneficial for banks," he said.

He said that the global cues are better since the mother market US is appreciating the favourable trends in the US economy after the brief disappointment with the cautious Fed message.

"It is evident that the US is heading for a soft landing and rate cuts are coming," he said. The correction in the dollar index to 103 and the US 10-year falling to 3.88 per cent may restrain the FIIs from selling, he noted.

He said that the near-term risk in the market is the high valuation which can trigger corrections on some negative news. "Expect high volatility in the near-term," he added.

(With inputs from IANS)