Markets gain after 2012-13 GDP seen at 7.6%

Markets firmed up led by bank shares after the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Union Budget 2012-13 announced an encouraging GDP growth of 7.6% for 2012-13.

The Finance Minister started his speech by stating that it has been a year of recovery uninterrupted for the economy. He also added that the economy was weighed down by double digit inflation for most of 2012 but has shown signs of a turnaround.

Giving a brief overview of the economy he said India's GDP is expected to grow by 6.9% in 2011-12, and expects headline inflation to moderate in the next few months. He also said India's GDP in 2012-13 is expected to be around 7.6%.

The Sensex was up 140 points at 17,816 and the NIfty was up 49 points at 5,429.

Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, Realty, Power, Bankex and Capital Goods indices were among the top gainers up over 1% each.

Bank shares were the top gainers in the Sensex, with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank both up over 2% each followed by SBI and HDFC which were up over 1%.

Other Sensex gainers include software majors TCS and Infosys in addition to capital goods majors such as L&T and BHEL.


However, the broader markets were marginally up with the BSE Mid-cap index up 0.7% and the BSE Small-cap index up 0.6%.

The market breadth was positive with 1,455 gainers and 909 losers on the BSE.