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Markets opened higher on hopes of big bang reforms in the Union Budget to boost the country's economic growth. The finance minister Arun Jaitley will present his first full-fledged Budget today later during the day.
At 9.35 AM, the 30-share Sensex has surged 218 points at 29,438 and the 50-share Nifty has soared 61 points to 8,905.
Shares of real estate and infrastructure companies have firm up further on hopes the forthcoming budget may include sops to the housing and infrastructure sectors .
The Buget is likely to vigorously push Modi's "Make In India" campaign. Several initiatives will be undertaken to boost investments by the corporate sector and promote manufacturing as part of the "Make In India" campaign that aims to make the country a global manufacturing hub and create jobs. The finance minister is also likely to pursue the path of fiscal consolidation and keep the fiscal deficit target at 3.6 per cent of GDP, down from 4.1 per cent expected this year.
"FY16 budget could be more relevant for the market than usual as over the past year it has run up 45% (Nifty) in anticipation that the new government will enable a V-shaped recovery in earnings of 17-20%; actual at 6% has been much weaker. Hence, there is little scope for the budget to disappoint," said Dhananjay Sinha, head - Institutional Research, Emkay Global Financial Services in a note.
"The test for the budget is to deliver a prudent budget, solidifying the path of fiscal consolidation and yet be palatable for both corporates and households. Compounding the constraint is the BJPs recent political debacles and farm sector resentment over the Land Acquisition amendments. Hence, given this context and the upcoming Bihar election, the scope for the government to take tough economic measures can be inhibited," he adds.
Sebi had decided to keep the markets open on the budget day, despite it being a Saturday, and asked the stock exchanges to put in place necessary systems to conduct trading during normal market hours from 9am to 3.30pm.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,957 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
GLOBAL MARKET
European shares surged to fresh seven-year highs ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary easing measures. Further, encouraging corporate earnings also boosted sentiment. The FTSE 100 ended flat with negative bias while CAC-40 and DAX ended up 0.7-0.8% each.
Major US share indices ended lower on Friday after economic growth was slower than expected during the fourth quarter.
However, the broader S&P 500 recorded its best monthly gain since October 2011. The Dow Jones ended down 82 points at 18,133, S&P 500 ended down 6 points at 2,104 and Nasdaq ended down 24 points at 4,964.
SECTORS AND STOCKS
All sectoral indices are trading in the positive territory with BSE Realty index is the top gainer up 1.7% followed by BSE Capital Goods, Bankex, Power indices trading higher up to 1%.
Banking shares have extended gains after the Economic Survey 2014-15 tabled in the parliament today forecasted FY16 GDP growth between 8.1% and 8.5% on hopes of further reforms. Axis Bank, HDFC twins, SBI and ICICI Bank are trading higher up to 2%.
Shares of real estate and infrastructure companies have firmed up further on hopes the forthcoming budget may include sops to the housing and infrastructure sector. L&T, BHEL are up 2%. Unitech is up 4%, NBCC is up 3%, Prestige is up 2.4%. Sobha is up 2% and Oberoi is up 2% DLF is up 1%.
L&T and Tata Power extend gains as both companies were shortlisted for Battlefield Management System by Ministry of Defence and are up nearly 2% each.
Prominent gainers on the BSE include Tata Steel, ONGC, NTPC and HUL trading higher up to 1%.
Tata Motors will be in action after the auto major said it plans to offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to its employees to “enhance competitiveness”. The scheme, the second in 13 months, has been extended to all categories of employees, including workmen and managerial cadres, against only to ‘white-collar’ employees the last time. The stock is trading with marginal gains.
