Stock market closing: Sensex, Nifty close the day in red, markets recover after initial hiccups

Both Sensex and Nifty closed the day in red, with Nifty hitting an intra-day low of 24,074.20 points. It closed 0.12% down at 24,479.05 points, while Sensex also closed in red, down by 0.09% at 80,429.04 points.

All broad market indices ended the day in red, with India VIX down by as much as 17%. As for sectoral indices, financial services was down by 1.37%, while FMCG (up by 2.68%), media (up by 1.16%) and consumer durables (up by 2.11%) closed the day in green. Realty took a significant hit during the day and closed 2.29% down, on the back of long-term indexation benefits stripped off assets like real estate and gold. Oil and gas was down by 1.20%, while PSU banks were down by 1.4%.

Titan (up by 6.56%), ITC (up by 6.52%), Tata Consumers (up by 4.42%) NTPC (up by 2.78%) and Adani Ports (up by 2.77%) were amongst the top gainers during the day. On the other hand, Larsen and Toubro (down by 3%), Hindalco (down by 2.97%), Shri Ram Finance (down by 2.79%), Bajaj Finance (down by 2.27%) and ONGC (down by 1.84%) were amongst the leading laggards.

Out of the 2,779 stocks traded during the day, 1,177 saw advances while 1,515 saw declines. Another 87 remained unchanged. 85 stocks hit their 52-week high price, while 41 stocks hit their 52-week low as well. 103 stocks hit the upper circuit during trading today, and 150 stocks hit the lower circuit during trading today.

Mr. Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares noted that market participants remained cautious with a positive bias ahead of the Union Budget. "As the budget speech was in progress; a steep fall was seen across the board followed by V-shaped recovery. With a marginal loss of 30.20 points, Nifty50 settled the trade at 24,479.05. The FMCG segment was the top performer of the day by advancing over 2.60% followed by Media and IT while Realty and PSU Banking were the major laggards. Mid and small caps also recovered from the lower levels but not sufficiently to outshine the index. By forming a small red candle with a big lower shadow, the Index has tested and defended its strong support of 24,200. We believe that as long as the Index holds 24,200, the uptrend will remain intact. On the higher side, 24,800 will continue to act as a strong hurdle", he continued.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman increased the STT (securities transaction tax) on future and options trading, making them more expensive. The standard deduction limit for new tax regime was increased from the earlier Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. Annual exemption limit for long-term capital gains tax was also increased from the previous Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 1,25,000.