The markets have moved up further on the back of gains in banking and energy stocks. The Sensex is now at 16529, higher by 274 points and the Nifty is at 4949, up 90 points.
As far as the economy is concerned, the finance minister has called for a financial sector legislative reforms panel. He has pegged the FY12 fiscal deficit at 4.8% of GDP and the FY11 fiscal deficit at 5.5%. There has been an allocation of Rs 40,100 crore for NREGA and Rs 61,000 crore for rural infra development, besides a promise of banking for all villages with a population of 2,000. The banking sector is strong. SBI is up more than 3% at Rs 1965, while ICICI Bank has gained 2.8% at Rs 875 and HDFC Bank has strengthened by 1.9% at Rs 1721.