Friday Cheer: Sensex shoots over a 1,100 points a day after Interim Budget 2024

• BPCL, Power Grid, Adani Ports, Reliance, Infosys are some of the major gainers at noon.
• Eicher Motors and HDFC Life have emerged as the laggard.
• Market watchers expect the market to consolidate from here on in near-term.

Benchmark equity indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, bounced back sharply in Friday trade tracking a rally in global markets along with buying in Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 846.64 points to 72,491.94 in early trade. The Nifty climbed 256.55 points to 21,954. By noon, the Sensex shot up over a 1,180 points while the Nifty was also up over 1.6%.

Among the Sensex firms, BPCL, Power Grid, Adani Ports, Reliance, Infosys, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers.

Eicher Motors and HDFC Life emerged as the laggard by noon.

Market watchers expect the market to consolidate from here on in near-term. Moreover, the fiscal deficit for FY25 being pegged at 5.1% has been taken as a big positive.

"The non-populist Budget focused on fiscal consolidation is a big positive. The big allocation for rural housing will benefit all construction-related segments like cement, steel, paints etc. Another important budget takeaway is the sharp decline in bond yields consequent to the net market borrowing kept low at Rs 11.75 trillion. This is beneficial for banks," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The US markets ended with significant gains on Thursday.

"The bull market at Dalal Street is thriving, fuelled by positive developments such as Wall Street's surge, a 3% drop in WTI oil prices, and the promising interim Union Budget," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Added Vijayakumar, "Global cues are better since the mother market US is appreciating the favourable trends in the US economy after the brief disappointment with the cautious Fed message. It is evident that the US is heading for a soft landing and rate cuts are coming. Correction in the dollar index to 103 and the US 10-year falling to 3.88% may restrain the FIIs from selling. The near-term risk in the market is the high valuation which can trigger corrections on some negative news. Expect high volatility in the near-term."

The Sensex declined 106.81 points or 0.15% to settle at 71,645.30 on the Budget day on Thursday. The Nifty dipped 28.25 points or 0.13% to 21,697.45.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.71% to USD 79.26 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,879.58 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

(With text input from PTI)