Budget: Sensex Ends 140 Points Higher; Nifty Above 8,900

1:35 PM: ITC falls 9 per cent to Rs 359. Major contributor to Sensex's fall

1:20 PM: Sensex down 204 points at 29,016, Nifty slips 53 points to 8,791; ITC falls 9%

1:07 PM: Market breadth negative as 1,488 stocks declining on the BSE compared to 981 advancing.

1:05 PM: ITC down 7 per cent to Rs 367 as government raises excise duty on cigarettes 

12:55 PM: Bank Nifty advances 1 per cent to 19,279.10. Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank and Canara Bank advance.12: 45 PM: The Sensex slips into the red, down 142 points to 29,078 and Nifty dips 31 points to 8,814.

12:35 PM: FM ends budget speech. Sensex up 101 points at 29,321, Nifty at 8,870, up 25 points.

12:30 PM: Max India surges over 4 per cent as income tax deduction limit on health insurance increased to Rs 25,000 from Rs 15,000. 

12:32 PM: Tobacco stocks surged as government did not increase the excise duty on cigaratte. ITC up 2.5%, Golden Tobacco up 9%, Godfrey Philips up 9%

12:27 PM: Liberty Shoes up 7 per cent as government reduces excise duty on leather items of more than Rs 1000.

12:23 PM: DLF up 3.5 per cent as government allows tax pass-through for REITS.

12:20 PM: Sensex gains 274 points to 29,495, Nifty up 77 points at 8,922

12:11 PM: HCL Technologies, Bharat Petroleum, ACC, Tata Power, NTPC and Ambuja Cement among the top losers on the Nifty.

12:08 PM: Sensex zooms 260 points as FM calls for reducing corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent which will be effective from next financial year.

12:05 PM: Sensex turns highly volatile, up 45 points at 29,295, Nifty advances 15 points to 8,860 after briefly slipping in red.

12:02 PM: Selling pressure picks up pace in auto, consumer durables, IT and metal stocks.

12:00 PM: Sensex edges lower, down 2 points at 29,219; Nifty slips 3 points to 8,841.

11:57 AM: Markets turn flat. Sensex up 56 points at 29,276, Nifty advances 11 points to 8,856.

11:53 AM: Titan Company down 0.5 per cent, PC Jeweller down 0.7 per cent.

11:47 AM: Shares in jewellery retailers erase initial gains as government did not make any announcement on reduction of import duty on gold.

11:43 AM: Alstom T&D, Sadbhav Engineering, ABB, BHEL, Suzlon, BEL and SKF India among the top gainers from the capital goods stocks.

11:40 AM: Tata Steel, HDFC, BHEL, ICICI Bank and ONGC among the top Sensex gainers, up 1-1.75 per cent. 11:36 AM: Mild selling pressure visible in IT and auto stocks.

11:32 AM: Markets come off the intraday high levels. Sensex up 148 points at 29,367, Nifty below 8,900, up 42 points.

11:29 AM: Fiscal deficit target for FY16 pegged at 3.9 per cent versus 3.6 per cent earlier. 

11:25 AM: Bank Nifty jumps 1.2 per cent after Finance Minister pegs medium term fiscal deficit target at 3 per cent of GDP. This will lead to rate cut post budget.

11:20 AM: BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trade on a positive note up 0.8 per cent each.

11:15 AM: Most of the stocks from the Nifty basket trading on a positive note. Bank of Baroda, Tata Steel, Punjab National Bank, DLF, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, IDFC and Jindal Steel advance 2-4 per cent each.

11:12 AM: Buying visible across the board. Capital goods, banking, metal and power stocks in high demand.

11:10 AM: Investment community had written us off...we have come a long way since then, says Arun Jaitley.

11:06 AM: Indian markets have been the second best market among the major global markets, says FM Arun Jaitley.

11:04 AM: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley begins Budget speech. The Sensex has advanced 265 points to 29,485 and the 50-share Nifty jumps 72 points to 8,917.11:00 AM: Budget session starts. Sensex up 230 points at 29,450, Nifty advances to 8,908.

 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's first full-year Budget speech has started and it could be the most important since the early 1990s, when India launched economic liberalization.

 

Financial markets, which have run sharply on hopes of big bang reforms; the BSE Sensex has been the best-performing emerging market index in the world recently. The Sensex since last one year has rallied 40 per cent.

 

Foreign institutional investors (FII) have pumped in Rs 98,178 crore in the last calendar year in the equity markets. And since start of 2015 the FIIs have pumped in Rs 23,299 crore.