Investor wealth up Rs 1,12,888 cr in post-Budget rally

P Chidambaram's fifth Budget has raised investor wealth by Rs 1,12,888 crore in just a fortnight after its presentation. The rise is close to double of what last year's Budget had done for investors in the same period.

Investors had gained Rs 58,391 crore two weeks after the Budget for 2005-06 was presented. The comparable figure for 2004 was Rs 27,086 crore.

This means three consecutive Budgets presented by Chidambaram have doubled the growth in investor wealth in two weeks flat.

The stock market also displayed its third consecutive post-Budget gains, with the Sensex rising 3.81 per cent, or 394.92 points, to close at an all-time high of 10,765.16 on Saturday. The increases in the same period in 2005 and 2004 was 139.87 points and 229.50 points, respectively.

The biggest fall in the Sensex and market capitalisation was noticed after the 2001 Budget, when the Sensex declined by 145 points in two weeks and market capitalisation worth Rs 146,048 crore was wiped out. The 2003 Budget had shaved 5.32 per cent, or 175.42 points, off the Sensex and eroded market capitalisation worth Rs 32,382 crore.

With the Sensex, Nifty, BSE-500 and most of the sectoral indices soaring to new highs during the last two weeks of trading, the market value of all traded stocks rose to a new high of Rs 2,844,740 crore, up by Rs 10 lakh crore in the past year.

Of the 2,628 actively traded stocks, 1,227 added to investor wealth by Rs 1,26,362 crore while 1,401 eroded wealth by Rs 13,474 crore in the last two weeks after the Budget.

The increase in wealth was powered by A-group stocks, which rose 4.20 per cent adding Rs 88,898 crore to investor wealth. B1-group stocks rose 4.75 per cent (Rs 18,976 crore); B-group stocks 2.38 per cent (Rs 860 crore), S-group stocks 4.64 per cent (Rs 2,602 crore) and trade to trade stocks 2.1 per cent, (1,551 crore).

Penjon tops the gainers list with a 108 per cent rise in price from Rs 10.05 on February 28 to Rs 20.92 on March 10. Other appreciable gainers in the rally have been Kalpataru Power, up 73.23 per cent; Ansal Housing, up 56.84 per cent; and RPG Transmission and Educomp Solutions, up 50 per cent each.