Market battered amid budgetary woes

A fall in the global markets and pre-budget expectation of a possible hike in the security transaction tax triggered a heavy fall in early trades. The Sensex, which slipped below 13000 in early trades, recovered more than 425 points shortly after the announcement of the Union Budget. However the market was disappointed by the increase in the dividend distribution tax, IT companies entering into the minimum alternative tax (MAT) bracket, 1% increase in the education cess and no change in the security transaction tax. As a result the Sensex slipped deep into the red in the afternoon. The Sensex managed to recover some losses but ended the session with losses of 541 points at 12938. The Nifty shed 149 points and closed at 3745.

Except the BSE FMCG index all the sectoral indices were hammered. Among the major losers the BSE IT index plunged 5.85%, the BSE Teck index shed 4.65% and the BSE Metal index declined 4.64%. In the broader market, the losers outnumbered the gainers. Of the 2,530 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,900 stocks declined, 598 stocks advanced and 32 stocks remained unchanged.

Except ITC all the stocks in the Sensex basket ended with steep losses. Satyam Computers tanked 8.42% at Rs413, Gujarat Ambuja slumped 7.76% at Rs116, Wipro tumbled 7.34% at Rs561, HDFC plunged 6.60% at Rs1,502, ACC crashed 6.35% at Rs900, TCS plummeted 6.07% at Rs1,188, Tata Steel fell 5.72% at Rs443, Maruti declined 5.40% at Rs840, Grasim lost 5.13% at Rs2,213 and Infosys slipped 5% at Rs2,078. The other front-line stocks shed 3-5% each. However ITC surged 4.03% at Rs172.

Information technology stocks witnessed substantial selling. HCL Technologies plunged 9.74% at Rs596, Mphasis plummeted 7.04% at Rs259 and Tech Mahindra shed 4.07% at Rs211. Metal stocks, too, took a sharp beating. Sesa Goa plunged 8.45% at Rs1,783, Nalco slumped 6.64% at Rs210 and Sterlite slipped 6.21% at Rs469.

Over 1.23 crore IDFC changed hands on the BSE followed by Power Finance Corporation (56.63 lakh shares), ITC (48.92 lakh shares), Reliance Communications (45.50 lakh shares) and Gujarat Ambuja Cement (45.04 lakh shares).

Value-wise Reliance Industries registered a turnover of Rs325 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Communications (Rs187 crore), Infosys (Rs173 crore), ACC (Rs119 crore) and IDFC (Rs116 crore).