Market Live: Sensex falls 300 pts, Nifty breaks 11K post Budget 2018; banks drag

10:25 am Market Update: Benchmark indices crashed, with the Sensex falling around 500 points and Nifty Midcap index losing 4 percent as investors digested Budget 2018.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 497.65 points or 1.39 percent to 35409.01 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 155 points or 1.41 percent to 10,861.90.

India Union Budget 2018-19 Live: News, updates and highlights from FM Arun Jaitley’s Budget 2018 speech, announcements
About 10 shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

10:10 am JM Financial in focus: The company said its committee of the board today has approved the closure of the QIP issue today and the issue price of Rs 162 per share, including a share premium of Rs 161.

10:02 Buzzing: Shares of Vakrangee continued to plummet to new lows, with the stock trading at 10 percent lower circuit for the third consecutive day today.

Investors have turned cautious of the stock after media reports hint at a possible investigation by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for alleged manipulation of share price and volume.

“The company has come under Securities Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) investigation for alleged price and volume manipulation of its own scrip at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE),” as per Mumbai Mirror report.

According to documents available with Mumbai Mirror, the trading of the Vakrangee scrip was analysed by both the exchanges from January 1, 2016, to June 30, 2016, and September 1, 2016, to June 15, 2017, after it was suspected that certain entities were trading the scrip and increasing its market gross.

Vakrangee is the largest enrolment agency for UIDAI.

9:56 am FII View on Budget 2018: Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in the latest annual Indian budget which contains many tinges of populism, noted Indian economist Eswar Prasad said today.

Prasad, a professor of trade policy at the prestigious Cornell University, said there were no major measures in the budget that could stimulate private investment.

“Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in this budget, which contains many tinges of populism, as was to be expected in the run-up to a national election cycle,” Prasad told PTI.

“There are no major measures that could stimulate private investment, which has been notably weak even during the recent period of high growth,” Prasad said.

However, the proposed new health insurance scheme and other measures that will in principle directly benefit the poor are welcome, Prasad said.

“Although it is unclear how exactly some of these programs will be funded within the budget envelope,” he said.

9:47 am Rupee Trade: The rupee depreciated by 6 paise to 64.08 against the dollar in morning at the interbank foreign exchange today due to concerns over widening fiscal deficit.

The Centre yesterday introduced a long-term capital gains tax of 10 per cent on stock market gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh, resulting in volatility in forex market.

Forex dealers said that besides increased demand for the American currency from importers, a lower opening of the domestic equity market also kept pressure on the rupee.

Yesterday, the rupee had plunged 44 paise to close at a near two-week low of 64.02 against the US dollar.

9:37 am Market Outlook: Hadrien Mendonca of IIFL expects indices to enter into a phase of consolidation from here on before we could see a fresh directional move. However, not forgetting the overall scenario continues to remain pretty bullish.

The higher top higher bottom structure remains intact and the strategy would be to remain to buy on declines. The action will continue to remain among the large caps and it would be prudent to stick to big names.

A fresh breakout is likely once Nifty surpasses its previous all-time high post which we expect the northbound journey to resume towards the 11,450 zone. Crucial support is seen around the 10,910 levels.

9:28 am Order Win: L&T Construction, the construction arm of Larsen & Toubro, has won orders worth Rs 2,275 crore across various business segments.

Its water & effluent treatment business has bagged orders worth Rs 1,255 crore, power transmission & distribution business won major solar EPC orders worth Rs 590 crore and buildings & factories segment has received an order worth Rs 430 crore.

9:21 am Auto sales: Bajaj Auto said total sales in January increased sharply by 46 percent to 3.53 lakh units, with domestic sales rising 50 percent at 2.02 lakh units and exports surging 41 percent to 1.51 lakh units YoY.

Motorcycle sales jumped 36 percent to 2.89 lakh units and 3-wheeler sales increased 113 percent to 64,211 units compared to same month last year.

9:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices opened sharply lower as investors digested Union Budget 2018 and focussed on more corporate earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 270.47 points at 35,636.19 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 83.20 points to 10,933.70.

Axis Bank, Yes Bank, SBI, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Adani Ports, SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and UPL were early losers.

Hindalco, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto and ITC were early gainers.

Nifty Midcap extended losses, falling 1.5 percent or 313 points.

Vakrangee, IDBI Bank, Jain Irrigation, Syndicate Bank, PNB, Canara Bank, JSW Steel, Ceat, VST Tillers and Titan Company were down 1-10 percent.