Share Market Today: Sensex, Nifty End Flat On Budget Day As New LTCG Rules Dent Sentiment

Share Market Today: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Titan rose over 6 per cent, followed by ITC, Adani Ports, NTPC, Infosys, HCLTech

Share Market Today: The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday settled marginally lower amid volatility as the government proposed to hike securities transaction tax on futures & options (F&Os) in the Union Budget 2024. The Sensex, which tanked over 1,200 points intra-day, closed lower by 73 points to 80,429. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 dropped 30 points to 24,479. The index slumped 435 points to 24,074.

Stock update

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Titan rose over 6 per cent, followed by ITC, Adani Ports, NTPC, Infosys, HCLTech. On the down side, L&T, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid emerged losers.

"There was a knee-jerk reaction during the Budget speech as Sensex plunged more than 1,000 points after FM increased LTCG and STCG rates along with higher STT on F&O transactions, which had caught investors off guard. However, both key benchmark indices erased almost all of its losses to end marginally lower as the government's focus on lower fiscal deficit, increased spend on infrastructure and focus on rural spending helped calm the nerves of the traders," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap declined 0.74 per cent while the Smallcap index dropped 0.18 per cent.

Sectoral update

Sectorally, consumer durables rallied 2.45 per cent, FMCG jumped 2.48 per cent, IT rose 0.82 per cent, healthcare gained 0.59 per cent. On the other hand, realty dropped 2.15 per cent, capital goods declined 2.03 per cent.

In the previous session on Monday, the BSE benchmark fell 102 points to end at 80,502, while the NSE Nifty50 dropped 22 points to 24,509.

Global update

In Asian markets, Seoul settled higher while Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended lower. European markets were trading higher. The US markets ended in the positive territory on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,444.06 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.25 per cent to $82.63 a barrel.

Rupee dips 5 paise

The rupee dropped 5 paise to hit an all-time low of 83.71 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday after the government raised tax rates on capital gains in the FY25 Budget.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.64 and touched an intraday high of 83.61 and touched an all-time intraday low of 83.71 against the dollar during the trading session.

It finally settled at an all-time low of 83.71 (provisional) against the American currency, registering a fall of 5 paise from its previous close. On Monday, the rupee consolidated in a narrow range to settle 4 paise higher at 83.66 against the American currency.