The markets have wiped off a major component of the post-Budget gains as the participants made sense of the finer print after giving an initial thumbs-up to Pranab Mukherjee's proposals. The Sensex, which had soared by around 600 points in the aftermath of the FM's speech, has again slipped below the 18k mark and is now up a mere 80 points at 17781, and the Nifty is up 24 points at 5328. The midcap index is at 6366, higher by 12 points and the smallcap index is at 7814, up 25 points. Select auto stocks are exerting pressure on the indices.
ITC has soared by 7.5% to Rs 167 to lead the gainers list on the BSE in the absence of an excise duty hike on cigarettes and other tobacco products. M&M has jumped 2.4% at Rs 609 and Maruti has added 2.1% at Rs 1196.
On the other hand, Reliance Infra has weakened by 4.1% at Rs 611 to top the losers' list on the BSE. Among auto stocks, Tata Motors has slid by 2.4% at Rs 1078, Hero Honda has shed 2% at Rs 1469 and Bajaj Auto has lost 1.2% at Rs 1268.
The market breadth is positive. Out of 2884 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1566 advancing stocks as against 1185 declines.