Stock Market On Budget Day: No Cheer For D-Street; Sensex Falls 107 Points, Nifty Around 21700. Paytm Tanks 20%

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Maruti, PowerGrid, Axis Bank, NTPC, SBI, TCS emerged gainers. L&T, UltraCemco, JSW Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Nestle were among the losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday closed their lacklustre trade in the red following the Interim Budget by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a high of 72,151, eventually ended the day at 71,645, down 107 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 topped 21,800 in intra-day deals, but closed at 21,697, down 28 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Maruti, PowerGrid, Axis Bank, NTPC, SBI, TCS emerged gainers. On the down side, L&T, UltraCemco, JSW Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Nestle were among losers.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index declined 0.4 per cent, while the Smallcap shed 0.2 per cent.

Among specific shares, Paytm plunged 20 per cent after the Reserve Bank of India halted nearly all transactions of its digital payment unit Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL).

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark gained 612 points to settle at 71,752, while the Nifty jumped 204 points to end at 21,726.

"The domestic market was marginally disappointed by lower-than-expected infra spending in the interim Budget. However, the government's commitment to fiscal prudence, targeting a fiscal deficit of 5.1 per cent for FY25, is expected to improve the outlook on economic ratings," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, and Hong Kong settled in the green, while Tokyo and Shanghai ended lower. European markets were trading on a mixed note. The US markets ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.66 per cent to $81.08 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,660.72 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 8 paise to close at 82.96 against the US dollar on Thursday after the government hinted at faster fiscal consolidation and lower borrowings in its interim Budget for 2024-25. However, a strong greenback against major rivals overseas and subdued domestic equity markets restricted the sharp gain in the domestic unit, forex traders said. 

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.02 against the dollar. During the session, the local unit touched a high of 82.93 and a low of 83.03. The rupee finally settled at 82.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 8 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee appreciated 6 paise to 83.04 against the US dollar.