New Delhi: The domestic equity markets were in the red, as the investors exhibited a negative sentiment with the BSE Sensex tanking over 600 points in the afternoon trade as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for financial year 2020-21 on Saturday.

At 1.45 p.m., the Sensex was trading at 40,045.84, lower by over 600 points or from the previous close of 40,723.49 points. It had opened at 40,753.18 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 40,905.78 and a low of 40,375.84 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 11,771.35, lower by 200 points  from its previous close. The indices were largely flat during the early hours of trade and started to decline significantly around 1 p.m.

The budget comes at a crucial time as the economy is going through a severe slowdown and consumer sentiment is significantly low.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, TCS and Nestle. The major losers were Larsen and Toubro, ONGC, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and Power Grid.