Equities cheerful after Budget focuses on accelerating growth

Equity benchmark indices closed nearly 5 per cent higher on Monday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in Parliament to kickstart growth cycle in the economy hit by coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Several experts said the Budget aims at efficient use of assets, furthering ease of doing business, increasing investment in infrastructure and reducing government's role in business.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 2,315 points or 5 per cent at 48,601 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 647 points or 4.74 per cent to 14,281.

Except for Nifty pharma which dipped by 0.5 per cent, all other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty private bank gaining by 8 per cent, PSU bank by 7.8 per cent, financial service by 7.6 per cent and auto by 4.2 per cent.

Among stocks, IndusInd Bank made substantial gains by moving up 15.1 per cent to Rs 974.20 per share while ICICI Bank moved up by 13.3 per cent, State Bank of India by 10.9 per cent and Axis Bank by 7.7 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv was up by 11.6 per cent to Rs 9,740 per share while Bajaj Finance advanced by 7.2 per cent to Rs 5,075. The other major gainers were housing finance major HDFC, Larsen & Toubro and UltraTech Cement.

However, agro-chemicals major UPL lost by 4.4 per cent to Rs 535.80 per share while Dr Reddy's, Cipla, Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Lever traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares tried to rally as Wall Street continued to struggle with doubts about vaccine rollouts and economic recovery.

Japan's Nikkei added 1.5 per cent while Shanghai composite index gained by 0.64 per cent as the country's central bank injected more cash into money markets.

South Korea's Kospi edged higher by 2.7 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved up by 2.15 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )