Will Budget bring cheers to Dalal Street? Sensex, Nifty upbeat ahead of FM speech

The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday, following positive cues from global peers and gains in index heavyweights such as ICICI Bank, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharmaceutical, HDFC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank.

The equity market witnessed a surge in buying activities ahead of the Union Budget 2020, which will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament at 11 am today. The auto stocks such as Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, TVS Motor Company, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors, Escorts, and Hero MotoCorp remain in focus as they will unveil their sales figures for January 2022.

At 9:20 AM, the BSE Sensex was at 58,684, up 669 points, or 1.15 %, and the NSE Nifty gained 189 points or 1.09% to trade at 17,529.

Out of the top 30 stocks on the BSE Sensex, all index heavyweights, barring Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Power Grid Corporation, were flashing in green. The top five gainers on the BSE Sensex pack were IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation, Infosys, and Sun Pharma, which gained up to 3%.

In line with the benchmark indices, the broader markets also traded higher in early deals. The S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index rose 0.7% and 1%, respectively.

The overall market breadth on the BSE was positive, with 1,883 shares advancing out of total 2,657 traded stocks in opening trade. Out of the total shares, 694 shares declined and 80 were unchanged.

On the sectoral front, rate-sensitive bank and realty space witnessed a surge in buying, while oil&gas and PSU indices stayed under selling pressure. The BSE Bankex index was leading the rally with a 1.57% gain, led by private sector lenders IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank Ltd, Au Small Finance Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, which gained in the range of 1.5% to 3%.

The banking sector was followed by the realty index, which was up 1.19%. The sectoral gainers include Sobha, Prestige Estates Projects, Brigade Enterprises, Godrej Industries, and Macrotech Developers.

On Monday, the benchmark equity indices closed higher as investors cheered Economic Survey 2022, which projected that the Indian economy will grow at a rate of 8-8.5% in FY23. Snapping previous session losses, the BSE Sensex closed 814 points, or 1.41%, higher at 58,014, and the NSE Nifty added 238 points, or 1.39%, to settle at 17,340.