The market has turned volatile and is hunting for positive cues after FM Arun Jaitley read his Budget speech today. Jaitley imposed LTCG tax on equities which will make the investment class less attractive to FIIs, DIIs and retail investors. The Sensex and Nifty which started higher today felt a brief impact of the impostion of LTCG tax. The Sensex tanked over 400 points on the LTCG tax announcement but later cut losses to trade nearly 80 points lower after the FM finished his speech today.
Also read: Will long-term capital gains tax imposition bring market rally to a halt?
FULL COVERAGE:
UNION BUDGET 2018
LIVE MARKETS COVERAGE
3:55 pm: Sensex closes 58 points lower at 35,906. Nifty holds 11,000 level, closes 10.80 points lower at 11,016.
3:13 pm: Budget is in line with the government's fiscal consolidation path, a Moody's analyst said on Thursday, adding that it reinforced the credit ratings agency's recent rating upgrade for the country.
3:11 pm: Most of the spending announced seemed to be on "productive investments" rather than 'one-time hand outs', said Jo y Rankothge, Vice President of Moody's Investors Service told Reuters."You'll see more medium-long term benefits, again depending on how it's implemented and how it's funded," he said.
3:10 pm: Markets turn volatile, Sensex falls 80 points to 35,884, Nifty at 11,008.50.
2:30 pm: "The Budget did not offer any substantial incentives to individual taxpayers, with slabs remaining constant. A change in the standard tax deduction in lieu of transport and medical expenses, which now stands at Rs 40,000, was the only gift to the salaried class, said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants.
2:00 pm: Redington (India) Ltd -December-quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 127 crore versus profit of Rs 118 crore last year. December-quarter consolidated revenue from operations at Rs 11728 crore compared with Rs 10962 crore last year.
1:45 pm: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says the government has earmarked some companies for privatisation under its stake sale programme for 2018/19
1:30 pm: Government cuts budgetary support for railways by Rs 150 billion to Rs 400 billion in 2017/18.
12:53 pm: Long Term Capital Gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh to be taxed at 10%. All gains up to 31 January 2018 will be grandfathered: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on equities.
12:36 pm: Standard deduction of Rs 40,000 announced for salaried employees in lieu of transport medical expenses.
12:30 pm: Government to reduce corporate tax to 25 percent for companies who have reported turnover of up to 2.5 billion rupees: Arun Jaitley
12:29 pm: Sensex pares gains, falls 95 points to 35,869, Nifty down 27 pointsin absence of tax rebates for common man, market.
12:28 pm: The government estimates to collect Rs 1 lakh crore in the current fiscal. Divestment target for FY 19 fixed at Rs 80,000 crore.
12:26 pm: FY 19 fiscal deficit target fixed at 3.3% of GDP.
12:00 pm: Sensex pares gains by 120 points, still trading 134 points higher at 36,009.42 level, Nifty up 35 points to 11,063 level.
11:55 am: Country needs over Rs 50 lakh crore for infrastructure needs.
11:53 am: The government will launch flagship national health protection scheme to protect 100 million families; provide coverage of up to Rs 500,000 per family per year.
11:46 am: Govt to launch flagship national health protection scheme to protect 100 million families; will provide coverage of up to 500,000 rupees per family per year.
11: 45 am: Government to invest Rs 1 trillion in development of premium education infrastructure over next four years: Arun Jaitley
11: 44 am: Government to spend Rs 14.34 trillion on creation of rural infrastructure in 2018/19, says Arun Jaitley
11:42 am: Shares of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) surged nearly 4 per cent after the firm reported a 48.41% rise in consolidated net profit for the third quarter. The stock gained 3.74 per cent to touch its one-year high of Rs 1,469.60 on BSE.
11:32 am: Minimum support price (MSP) of all crops to be increased to at least 1.5 times of production cost, says Arun Jaitley
11:30 am: Food processing sector growing at 8 percent per annum; allocation being doubled to Rs 14 billion in 2018-2019: Jaitley
11:28 am: BSE auto stocks (231 points), BSE bankex (215 points) and BSE capital goods (414 points) indexes gain.
11:17 AM: Sensex rises over 200 points to 36,186, Nifty up 66 points as FM Jaitley reads Budget speech.
11: 14 am: The government is ensuring benefits are reaching eligible beneficiaries directly: Arun Jaitley.
11:13 am: India is already the 7th largest economy in the world, and will become the 5th largest economy very soon.
11:12 am: Exports are expected to grow at 15 percent in 2017/18, says FM
11:10 am: Estimates 2017/18 GDP to grow at 7.2 to 7.5 percent in second half of current fiscal year, says Jaitley.
11:09 am: Structural reforms will help Indian economy achieve stronger growth in the medium and the long term, says Arun Jaitley
11:08 am: Indian economy is now 2.5 trillion dollar economy in the world and expected to become the fifth largest economy very soon. IMF has projected India will grow at 7.4% next year. We are set to achieve high growth.
11:08 am: IMF has predicted India will grow at 7.4 percent next year, says Jaitley.
11:05 am: FM starts his Budget speechin Lok Sabha.
11:04 am: "If the budget is committed to fiscal consolidation and there is no additional tax burden on capital market investments then it will be welcomed cheerfully by investors," said Sudhakar Pattabiraman, head of research operations at MarketSmith, which is part of financial services provider William O'Neil.
10:57 am: Sensex trading 127 points higher three minutes before FM Arun Jaitley starts hisspeech. Nifty at 11057 level, up 30 points.
10:56 am: Factory growth falls to a three-month low in January. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 52.4 last month from December's 54.7. Weaker domestic demand dragged on output despite firms keeping price increases to a minimum.
10:30 am: Credit Suisse says L&T's domestic business is now firing on both execution and order inflows, reducing dependence on the unreliable Middle East; raises target price to Rs 1,700 from Rs 1,425; maintains 'Outperform'. The brokerage revises earnings estimates up by 3-6 percent for FY18-20 on slightly better execution and margins.
10:29 am: Hindustan Copper shares down 3.4 percent at Rs 82.10 in early trade; company posted quarterly results on Wednesday.
10:17 am: Way2Wealth Research in a report said for the day, 10,880/10,780 are immediate support whereas 11,171 are near term resistance.
10:14 AM: Vakrangee Limited is the top BSE loser falling 20% to 292.30 level.
10: 13 AM: Fortis Healthcare (9.31%), Supreme Industries (4.73%) are other major losers on BSE.
10:05 am: "I think the budget will be focused on both investors as well as the common man," said A. Balasubramanian, chief executive officer at Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management, adding he expects a deficit of 3.2 percent. "The government will take care so that the budget is neither inflationary nor fiscally less prudent."
10:02 am: BSE small cap index rises 146 points to 18,862 level, midcap index is up a meagre 3.42 points to 17,367 level.
9:50 am: Market breadth is positive with 1432 stocks rising against 585 falling on the BSE. 89 stocks are unchanged.
9:43 am: Top BSE gainers are IIFL (6.58%), Avanti Feeds (5.22%) and Escorts (4.97%).
9:37 am: Tata Steel (1.55%), Dr Reddy's (0.82%) and PowerGrid (0.78%) are the top Sensex losers.
9:30 am: Top Sensex gainers are L&T (3.24%), TCS (1.93%) and M&M (1.60%).
9:17 am: Sensex opens 157 points higher to 36121, Nifty up 41 points to 11,067 level.
BusinessToday.in Last Updated: February 1, 2018 | 19:23 IST 
