Sensex surges over 400 pts in opening session; Nifty breaches 17,650-level

Equity benchmark Sensex climbed over 400 points and the Nifty breached the 17,650-level.

In the opening session on Wednesday, a day after the Union Budget proposed higher spending on infrastructure to boost economic growth and job creation.

The 30-share Sensex was trading 416.56 points or 0.71 per cent higher at 59,279.13, and the broader Nifty rose 117.95 points or 0.67 per cent to 17,694.80.

PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by ITC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finserv.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, L&T, Sun Pharma and Wipro were in the red.

Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 24 scrips were trading in the green.

In the previous session, the 30-share BSE index finished 848.40 points or 1.46 per cent higher at 58,862.57. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty surged 237 points or 1.37 per cent to end at 17,576.85.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a bigger ₹39.45 lakh crore Budget, with higher spending on highways to affordable housing with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic.

“India unveiled on Tuesday a bigger budget of 39.45 trillion rupees (USD 529.7 billion) for the coming fiscal year, stepping up investment on highways and affordable housing to put growth on a firmer footing as the economy recovers from the pandemic,” Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Several Asian markets, including China, Hong Kong and South Korea, are shut for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Stock exchanges in the US ended higher in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.19 per cent to USD 89.33 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the domestic capital market, pulling out ₹21.79 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.