Budget 2019: Sensex rallies over 500 pts; Nifty nears 11,000 mark
Mumbai, Feb 1 : The BSE benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in afternoon trade Friday, driven by consumption and auto stocks as investors welcomed individual tax exemptions and sops in the farm sector announced in the interim Budget.
Overall, market sentiment was bullish even as the government overshot the fiscal deficit target for the current financial year and announced some populist measures, which experts believe will increase fiscal burden on the exchequer.
The 30-share Sensex was trading 506.21 points, or 1.40 per cent, higher at 36,762.90; and the 50-share Nifty inched near the 11,000 mark rallying 143.30 points, or 1.32 per cent, to 10,974.25.
In a major relief to the middle-class, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal Friday proposed to double the threshold tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh and increased the standard deduction to Rs 50,000 from Rs 40,000.
The proposal will benefit 3 crore middle-class tax payers, Goyal said while unveiling the Budget proposals for 2019-20.
As widely expected, the finance minister announced the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi for small and marginal farmers, providing Rs 6,000 per year to be transferred directly to farmers' bank accounts.
Goyal said the fiscal deficit for the current financial year is expected to be 3.4 per cent of GDP. As per the Budget estimate, the fiscal deficit for 2018-19 was pegged at 3.3 per cent.
Consumption-driven stocks rallied the most after the Budget announcement, with BSE auto, consumer durables, FMCG and realty indices soaring up to 4 per cent.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, M&M, Bajaj Auto, HUL, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, ITC, HDFC and L&T, rising up to 7.51 per cent.
Vedanta was the biggest loser on Sensex, cracking over 16 per cent after the metals and mining giant Thursday reported a 25.54 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,574 crore for the December 2018 quarter on the back of higher expenses and drop in commodity prices.
Other losers included Axis Bank, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and PowerGrid, falling up to 0.72 per cent.
The rupee, meanwhile, was trading 5 paise lower against US dollar to 71.13.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
